seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Luke 20:1 One day as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple courts and proclaiming the good news, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, together with the elders, came up to him. 2 “Tell us by what authority you are doing these things,” they said. “Who gave you this authority?”
3 He replied, “I will also ask you a question. Tell me: 4 John’s baptism—was it from heaven, or of human origin?”
5 They discussed it among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Why didn’t you believe him?’ 6 But if we say, ‘Of human origin,’ all the people will stone us, because they are persuaded that John was a prophet.”
7 So they answered, “We don’t know where it was from.”
8 Jesus said, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.”
When I read this.... I think "Who let you in here?"In yesterday's verses, Jesus threw the venders out of the temple. I call it a temper tantrum. I'm sure it was much different than a tantrum, for a human. Jesus, however, is the Son of God. If He really got angry, the temple would disintegrate, right?
I'm pretty sure word got to the Pharisees, Sadducees, Teachers of the Law, and elders, they were not pleased. That's why they went out to find Jesus and run Him out of the Temple once and for all. How dare He come in and mess up decades of good business. After all, didn't the church receive its tithe from those money changers?
Now, they wanted Jesus to say something that would condemn Him. He had such a huge following, they were afraid they would start a riot, and draw the ire of the Romans, if they just arrested Him without the smoking gun in His hand.
So, after He had destroyed the "buy your sacrifice here" tables, they confronted Him.
Jesus was teaching. They didn't like it. Was Jesus teaching "The Kingdom is at Hand", without clearing it with the chief priest?
I don't know about your church, but in the churches, I went to, all the teachers and preachers were assigned way before they went into the classroom or put hands on the pulpit. When I read this, it's as if Jesus has walked to the front of the classroom or up to the pulpit, and shoved the teacher or preacher aside, and started teaching. Or maybe when the "question" came up in the study, Jesus had the answer and a lot more. Do most churches ask their volunteers "who let you in here?"?
So, when they asked, "who's authority", they were really saying, "Hey, you didn't go to Seminary, you didn't use the approved text, you didn't clear that study with us. Who do you think you are?".
That's how John the Baptist's name got in this argument. John was not a priest.... but people knew what John was preaching was true. John taught "Repent" and the people were repentant. John's followers were now following Jesus. John was not a priest on the temple payroll. John didn't take a piece of the tithe. But John was known as a prophet. Jesus asked them how that worked.
Jesus is going to teach them a lesson now.
They wanted to arrest Jesus for "Teaching without a license".
There was no politically correct answer.
