Then they came again to Jerusalem. And as He was walking in the temple, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders came to Him. 28 And they said to Him, “By what authority are You doing these things? And who gave You this authority to do these things?” 29 But Jesus answered and said to them, “I also will ask you one question; then answer Me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things: 30 “The baptism of John–was it from heaven or from men? Answer Me.” 31 And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ 32 “But if we say, ‘From men’ “–they feared the people, for all counted John to have been a prophet indeed. 33 So they answered and said to Jesus, “We do not know.” And Jesus answered and said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

– Mark 11:27-43 (NKJV)

There have been several times I’ve seen someone driving down the road in an extremely reckless manner and I’ve thought, “If I were a police officer I could pull you over and give you a ticket for what you are doing. You are driving recklessly!” The fact was that I couldn’t pull them over. Even if put lights on my car and somehow managed to compel someone speeding past me to pull over, I can’t issue them a ticket. I simply don’t have the authority. If I do put lights on my vehicle, dress up in a uniform, and pull people over I’d be guilty of a bigger issue, I’d be impersonating an officer. To act like I have authority when I don’t, is a big crime as well.

The religious leaders are trying to get Jesus to say one of two things. Either he doesn’t have the authority to turn over tables in the temple like he just did… or make him claim authority (that they can later challenge)… What is left unsaid in this dispute is that Jesus was in the right and they were in the wrong.

The religious leaders wanted to shift public opinion from being against them to being against Jesus. They don’t want to be seen as terrible people for profiting from, allowing, and encouraging the desecration of this portion of the temple, so they attempt to shift the charge to “this man has no authority here.” So Jesus handles these leaders exposing their fears. He poses a question back to them that causes them to sweat under fear of the pubic scrutiny.

They probably didn’t see it this way, but this was a grace. Jesus was allowing these men to see what was really ruling their heart… Pride and a thirst for political power. They didn’t really care about the worship of God. For them it had become a commercial enterprise long ago.

You know if we aren’t careful we can become like these religious leaders who were looking to challenge Jesus’ authority rather than addressing the things they had done wrong. Do we allow the bible to penetrate our hearts and lives or do we maintain secret sins and imagine that life is ok if we aren’t ever “called out” or “caught?” If someone else notices or not, our sins are still sins. When they are exposed we should deal with them before the Lord.

I wondered as I was reading this passage this morning, what might have happened had Jesus cleansed the temple and these leaders immediately recognized and repented of their sins? What if they had just owned their greed and dealt with it then? Perhaps Jesus’ question about John’s baptism was more than a riddle, but an appeal for real repentance like John had called for (Matthew 3:7-12).

Father, We love you and want to grow in knowledge of you and your word. We are grateful for your grace. We are grateful for the voices of accountability in our life the expose our hearts and help us see our need of repentance. Help us not to shy away from a loving stern rebuke, but welcome the voice of loving correction in our lives. Let us not be so worried about others that we lose sight of honoring you. Give us discernment as we apply your word to our lives. In Jesus Name, Amen.