Mark 11:27-33 — Who Gives You the Right?

Mark 11:27-33 
And they came again to Jerusalem. And as he was walking in the temple, the chief priests and the scribes and the elders came to him, and they said to him, 

“By what authority are you doing these things, or who gave you this authority to do them?”

Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question; answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. Was the baptism of John from heaven or from man? Answer me.”

And they discussed it with one another, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ But shall we say, ‘From man’?”—they were afraid of the people, for they all held that John really was a prophet.

So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.”

And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

Comments:

In this passage rife with irony, Jesus' authority was questioned by the temple “authorities”. They wanted to know by what authority he did "these things" and who gave him such authority. So to what did their “these things” refer? The immediate context would refer to (1) Jesus’ cleansing of the temple by driving out the sacrifice vendors and moneychangers,  and his continued prevention of commerce from occurring there, (2) His preventing things from being carried through the temple (it was becoming a shortcut for many); (3) Jesus' daily teaching of his disciples and the crowds in the temple; (4) It may also refer to his triumphal entry and his receiving of the people’s praise. It is less likely that it is referring to the cursing of the tree which they were not as likely to know about. 

This encounter was the religious leaders of that day basically asking Jesus, “Who [or what] gives you the right to do this?” 

They had a lot of personal power and profit tied up in this temple franchise and Jesus was interfering with it all! When the implications of the gospel touch on the status quo power and profit structures somebody is going to have to suffer.

This passage also says a lot about sincere communication. Jesus will answer them if they come clean with him about one thing—the authority behind the ministry of John the Baptist. Trust me, they had an opinion on this, but they were not willing to be honest about it. Because they were not willing to answer honestly, Jesus was not willing to talk any further with them.  Ironically, the temple was to have been a place of prayer for all nations, and prayer is where we get honest with God. I am thankful for the reminders I get in the Bible that God values and seeks our honest communication with him.

It seems to me that the Lord will not have anything to do with those who know what they believe but are too afraid to tell the truth... whether for good or bad. Jesus was a master of discernment. I wish that I was as wise and filled with the Spirit in my own communications. This is yet another situation where Jesus cast neither what was holy before dogs nor his pearls before swine.