Mark 11:27-33 | “Where Does the Authority of Jesus Come From?”

Individualism is the Air We Breathe

One of the defining characteristics of our culture is individualism.  Freedom is a chief virtue and anything that challenges our ability to do what we want is a chief vice.  We generally don’t see a need for other people.  We think we can live life on our own without help or accountability.  We strive for greater levels of independence, failing to see our need for greater levels of interdependence. 

Individualism is the air we breathe in America, and it can lead us to minimize the value and importance of age-old virtues like commitment and accountability.  But individualism isn’t really the deepest issue leading us to neglect these things.  If the root problem is merely individualism, or that we don’t live in relationships very well, then we’ve left God out of our analysis.  We’ve secularized the problem by taking God out of the equation in any meaningful way. 

Writer Jonathan Leeman says, “When we pull off the somewhat secularized mask of individualism, what we find behind it is a fear of, nay, a hatred of, authority.  It’s not relationships that people are so afraid of; people long for relationships…Rather, it’s a particular kind of relationship that people despise.  The real problem then is not finally individualism; it’s anti-authority-ism.  Loneliness is not the problem.  A refusal to live life on anyone else’s terms is.”

Could anti-authority-ism be the primary reason why many Christians do not or will not commit to a church?  Christians are those who see and honor God as the great and glorious Person that he is, a seeing and honoring that results in wanting to live under his authority.  And part of living under his authority is to put ourselves under the authority of a local church.

God’s Authority Revealed in Jesus

As I talk about being under authority, many of you may feel a bit uncomfortable.  Many of us have been hurt by those in authority.  Many of us have good reason to not trust authority.  That’s okay, we all struggle with these things. 

The good news is that not all authority is bad.  The gospel of Jesus Christ tells us that, the one with all authority, used his authority to serve and protect us, not take advantage of us.  He decided to lower himself and put on human flesh and come into the world to help his people, not hurt them.  In Jesus, the God of all authority put aside his glory in order to save and serve those who trust in him.   

Jesus, the Son of God, came into the world as a humble, human servant.  But the characteristic that perhaps left the greatest impression on his followers, and caused the greatest offense among his opponents, was his authority, or exousia.  This Greek word referred to “the power which decides,” or the invisible power of God over all things in his world.  Jesus’ exousia is his sovereign freedom and magisterial power to do whatever he wants whenever he wants.

Jesus’ glorious power and divine authority shone through the veil of his humanity throughout his ministry.  In his first public appearance, he astonished a local synagogue with his authoritative teaching and power over the demonic (Mk. 1:21-27).  Jesus’ authority is why he could bind Satan, the “strong man” (3:27), wherever he went.  It’s why he could presume to forgive sins (2:10).  It’s why he claimed supremacy over the Old Testament law and the Sabbath (2:23-3:6).  It’s why he would preface many of his statements with “Truly I say to you.”  Rabbis didn’t talk like that.  God talks like that.  And it’s why he went to Jerusalem to replace the temple with himself as the locus Dei, the place where God meets humanity (15:38-39). 

It’s quite easy for us to read the Gospels and deduce that Jesus’ authority obviously came from God because he was the Son of God, full of the Spirit of God.  But the people around him didn’t know or understand that yet.  They saw his authority, but didn’t understand where it came from. 

In the passage we’re going to study this morning, Mark 11:27-33, Jesus opens a window of understanding for us about where his authority came from.  Mark wants his readers to know that Jesus’ authority, though doubted and questioned by many, is from God and that he can therefore be trusted.  He wants us to know that the authority of Jesus is in fact the authority of God.

We can divide this text into three sections.  First, there’s a question for Jesus (vv. 27-28).  Second, there’s a question from Jesus (vv. 29-30).  And third, there’s an answer that’s not an answer (vv. 31-33).

A Question for Jesus

In verses 27-28, there’s a question for Jesus.  Remember the context.  Mark has framed chapters 11-16 as the last week of Jesus’ life.  Jesus goes to Jerusalem and the temple in order to pronounce judgment on the temple, to replace it as the place where God meets with humanity.  He made this explicit in his cursing of the fig tree.  Just as the fruitless fig tree withered away, so will the fruitless temple.  Then, starting in 11:27 through the end of chapter twelve, Mark presents a series of seven conflict stories between Jesus and the religious leaders.  The temple and its leaders must be exposed for their corruption.

Verse 27 says that Jesus was confronted by “the chief priests and the scribes (or teachers of the law) and the elders.”  These three groups made up what was called the Sanhedrin, which functioned like the executive, legislative, and judicial council for the Jews in first century Israel.  The Sanhedrin sent a delegation to confront this Galilean preacher who was stirring up trouble in the temple.  The fact that the text mentions all three groups of the Sanhedrin tells us how serious the situation was.  Jesus was not a small problem for them.

Verse 28 says that they come with a question for Jesus.  “These things” refer to his clearing of the temple and teaching the previous day.  By clearing the Court of the Gentiles, Jesus had acted authoritatively.  A person with no credentials can’t stroll into the temple complex and presume to do what Jesus did. 

The Sanhedrin needs to know who this guy thinks he is.  The underlying purpose of their question was to get Jesus to admit that he had no authority to do what he did.  They didn’t come on a fact-finding mission.  They were the ones with the authority over the temple.  Jesus wasn’t one of them, so he needed to be put in check.  If only they knew the kind of authority they were dealing with, they wouldn’t have come with such accusatory questions.

A Question from Jesus

Next, in verses 29-30, we see a question from Jesus.  In good rabbinical fashion, Jesus answers their question with a question of his own.  The one thing Jesus wants to know concerns John’s baptism.  Was it “from heaven or from man?” (v. 30)  Out of reverence, Jews avoided using God’s name, a custom Jesus is following here, using “heaven” instead of “God.”

The categories that Jesus uses are noteworthy.  He doesn’t appeal to the Torah or the temple.  The categories needed to understand his authority are beyond these.  Jesus wants them to think in terms of “heaven and man,” or God and humanity.  They’re not thinking in big enough terms about him.  They’re focused on things of this world, and thus not able to understand his authority.

Jesus’ question may seem like an evasion of the question he was asked.  But he’s not asking them about John’s baptism as a diversionary tactic.  He’s not a raccoon jumping in a creek to shake the dogs off its scent.  He’s telling them exactly what they want to know.  He’s telling them where his authority comes from, if they have ears to hear. 

“The baptism of John” may refer broadly to John’s preaching of repentance as a prerequisite for the forgiveness of sins and his message that one mightier than he would come after him.  But did Jesus have more than this in mind?  I think he did. 

Jesus’ question here may explain why Mark begins his Gospel the way he did.  Let’s go back and read the account of John’s baptism of Jesus (Mk. 1:4-11).  It was at Jesus’ baptism by John that the heavens were opened, the Spirit of God descended on Jesus, and God declared that Jesus was his “beloved Son, with whom he was well pleased” (vv. 10-11). 

This means that the baptism of Jesus was the event that inaugurated Jesus’ authority, his exousia, his sovereign freedom to act and speak on behalf of God as the Son of God full of the Spirit of God.  Jesus’ baptism was the launch party of his authority. 

So what does the baptism of John have to do with Jesus’ authority?  Everything.  The Sanhedrin needs to reconsider John’s baptism of Jesus if they want to understand Jesus’ authority.  The implied point of Jesus’ question in verse 30 is that John’s ministry was from God.  If John’s ministry were “from men,” or fully explainable by empirical means, then the Sanhedrin is justified to accuse Jesus of not having the proper credentials to do what he did in the temple.  But if John’s ministry were “from heaven,” or given by God, as the people believed and the Sanhedrin feared, then Jesus has also been authorized by God to do what he was doing. 

Instead of giving them a direct answer, Jesus tells them that his authority is from the same source as John’s.  If John’s was from God, then so is his.  If it were from men, then so was his.  Jesus’ question was a subtle, though veiled, declaration of his divine authority.  The religious leaders don’t like his question and don’t know what to do with it.

An Answer that’s Not an Answer

In verses 31-33, we see an answer that’s not an answer.  After hearing Jesus’ question, the Sanhedrin automatically starts strategizing about how to get around Jesus’ question.  His question was meant to reveal his authority.  But the Sanhedrin only hears it as an intellectual challenge.  They reason that if they answer “from heaven,” they’ll have to support Jesus.  If they answer “from man,” they’ll have to deal with the crowds.  They decide to answer by not answering, “We do not know” (v. 33).

That’s probably not entirely true.  They probably had some suspicions about who Jesus was, and they could easily learn more if they entered into honest dialogue with him.  Their problem is that they were unwilling to know where his authority came from.  John Calvin says, “They do not inquire what is true, nor do they put the question to their own conscience; and they are so base as to choose rather to shuffle than to acknowledge what they know to be true…In this manner, all wicked men, though they pretend to be desirous of learning, shut the gate of truth, if they feel it be opposed to their wicked desires.”  In other words, they, like we, decided to ignore the truth right in front of them because it would mean giving up things they didn’t want to give up. 

They feared losing control more than they feared God and decided to play it safe.  Because they avoid answering Jesus’ question, he avoids answering theirs (v. 33b).  The Sanhedrin suspends judgment, or “keeps an open mind” as we might say today.  But in reality, their minds are full of skepticism and unbelief and cowardice.  The Sanhedrin chose safety over truth, self-preservation over faith.  So Jesus refuses to commit himself to those unwilling to commit themselves to him.  Those who can’t be honest with themselves won’t be honest about Jesus. 

The Sanhedrin fail to see that Jesus’ question is a heart-probing question meant to lead them to understanding and faith and repentance.  Jesus wasn’t fact-finding.  He wanted these men to see who he really was.  This was a rescue operation.  This was a conversation full of grace.  Jesus wanted these men to know and understand his true nature so that they would turn to him in faith.

But their spiritual blindness keeps them from seeing what Jesus is trying to do.  They assume Jesus’ counter-question means that he’s interested in an intellectual match to see who can trap and contradict the other.  So they suspend judgment and opt for self-preservation.

What about you?  Have you suspended judgment about Jesus?  Are you avoiding Jesus’ authority because you’re afraid of what you might lose?  Do you realize that your interest in him is a result of his interest in you?  He loves you and wants you to see him for who he is.   

Those who follow Jesus may lose the world, but they’ll gain everlasting life.  Those who put their trust in Jesus, even before they understand everything, even while they continue to ask questions, are rewarded with the Spirit of God who leads us into all truth.  Whatever you fear losing in this life for following Jesus doesn’t even compare to what you’ll gain in the next one.

How Do We Know If Jesus’ Authority Is From God?

The question of the Sanhedrin is the question for us this morning: where does Jesus’ authority come from?  We’re skeptical of authority and love our individual freedoms, and if Jesus’ authority is merely “from man,” then we can keep doing what we’ve always done, “Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die.”  But if Jesus’ authority is “from heaven,” we must stop what we’re doing, listen to him, trust him, obey him, and worship him. 

How do we know if Jesus’ authority is from God?  Well, of course, the Bible says that it is, so there’s that.  But if you don’t think that the Bible is inspired by God and God’s revelation of himself, then you don’t care much about what the Bible says.  I could spend all morning giving you evidences for the historical reliability of the New Testament, as compared to other ancient documents, and you still wouldn’t be convinced that Jesus’ authority is from God.

What about the resurrection?  Doesn’t Jesus’ resurrection make it clear that Jesus’ authority is from God?  Yes, of course I think it does.  But Jesus actually says that if we don’t believe God’s word, then we’re not going to be convinced if someone is raised from the dead (Lk. 16:27-31).  Jesus’ point in this parable is that miracles by themselves won’t convince us of the spiritual beauty of Jesus Christ.  If there’s a spiritual deafness to the voice of God in his word, miracles won’t cure that spiritual deafness. 

The only way we’ll see the glory of God in the word or work of God is by a gift of God.  Paul says it this way, “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6).  Only the illuminating work of God can give us eyes to see and ears to hear and minds to understand and hearts to love and accept Jesus’ authority.

How do we know if this has happened in us and to us?  Let me answer my question with another question: have you turned away from your sin and trusted in Jesus’ death on the cross for the forgiveness of your sins?  If you have, then God has removed the spiritual deadness in your heart and shown you the glory and sufficiency and beauty and authority of Jesus.  Repentance and faith are sure signs of God’s illuminating work in our lives.  Have you turned away from your sin or do you love you sin?  Is your confidence in Jesus alone to save you or Jesus and yourself kind of working together?    

Implications of Jesus’ Authority

How does Jesus’ authority effect our everyday lives?  I thought of four ways.  Those who’ve seen and embraced Jesus’ loving authority will also want to do life with others who’ve done the same.  As I said earlier, our willingness to officially connect ourselves to a church through church membership says a lot about our understanding of Jesus’ authority.  He calls us into accountable relationships, not into a life of floating along as a lone-ranger Christian. 

Jesus’ authority also means that we don’t have to be afraid of anything anymore.  Yes, people can and will hurt us.  We’ll lose jobs, struggle financially, and have relational conflict.  But Jesus’ exousia is operating behind the scenes to ensure that nothing happens to us that isn’t good for us.  He divinely ordains even our struggles out of grace, so that we’ll learn to lean on him and rest in him and trust in him.  His authority means that he knows what he’s doing.  And since he loves us as his children, and he knows what he’s doing, we don’t have to be afraid.

Jesus’ authority means that the Great Commission will be completed (Mt. 28:18-20).  The Lord of all creation is with us as we seek to make disciples.  This guarantees the success of our mission.  All the nations will be discipled, baptized, and taught because Jesus is with us and Jesus has all authority. 

Jesus’ authority also gives us peace when we see nothing but craziness and sin and injustice in the world.  King Jesus is on his throne, making note of every injustice and every abuse of authority.  When he returns, his exousia will be on full display and all evil will come to an end.  The righteous will be rewarded and the unjust will be punished. 

Jesus’ Authority Creates Worship

In this text, Mark has opened a window of understanding about where Jesus’ authority came from.  He wants his readers to know that Jesus’ authority, though doubted and questioned by many, is from God and that he can therefore be trusted.  He wants us to know that the authority of Jesus is in fact the authority of God. 

If this is true, then this means that Jesus should be worshiped, not just appreciated, because he is worthy, because is “from heaven” and not “from man.”     

 

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