Authority From Heaven

After his first day of provocative actions in the temple, Jesus boldly returns to the temple (outer court) the next day and is teaching the people there. The chief priests and elders (aristocrats) interrupt him with “loaded” questions: “By what authority are you doing these things? And who gave you this authority?” (Matthew 21:23).

The chief priests ruled in the temple, emphasizing the sacrificial rituals; teaching the people was done primarily in synagogues, where the scribes (rabbis) ruled. While the chief priests and the most powerful rabbis joined together to challenge Jesus on the first day (21:15), on this second day, with Jesus teaching like a rabbi in “their” temple, the chief priests bring some powerful elders to challenge Jesus about his authority. They want to know what rabbi taught Jesus these “authoritative” teachings.

Jesus replies, “I will also ask you one thing, and if you answer me, I will answer you about my authority to do these things. The baptism of John was from what authority? From heaven or from men?” The chief priests and elders huddle together to decide their response to Jesus’ questions. They reason that if they answer “from heaven,” Jesus will tell them, Why then didn’t you believe in him? But if they answer “from men,” they fear what the crowd might do, for all of them think John was a prophet (with authority from heaven). So the chief priests and elders reply that they don’t know the answer; and Jesus replies that he then refuses to answer their questions about his authority (21:24-27).

But Jesus’ question to them about John does point to where his authority is from. And the previous day, the crowd (from Galilee) identified Jesus as “the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee” (21:11). So that crowd believed in Jesus (as well as John); they were prophets with authority not from men–not from rabbis–but from heaven, from God. Earlier, after Jesus’ extended teaching of his disciples (in Mat. 5-7), the crowds that surrounded them were amazed at his teaching, because he was teaching them as one who had authority (from heaven), and not as “their” scribes (rabbis) (7:28-29). Indeed, the main message of John was about the coming kingdom of heaven, and Jesus then announced that the kingdom of heaven–the kingly power of God–had arrived. Jesus was heaven’s anointed king, and heaven’s anointed prophet, announcing and teaching all about the good news of the new kingdom.