When Jesus entered the temple courts, he began to drive out
those who were selling. “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be a
house of prayer’; but you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’” Every day he was
teaching at the temple. But the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the
leaders among the people were trying to kill him. Yet they could not find any
way to do it, because all the people hung on his words.” (Luke 19:45-48)
What is authority? We humans do not like any form of
authority imposed at all. Resistance, opposition, and even bloody fight have
frequently been occurring if one practices authority over the other. In the
first century, there had been manifested an unceasing and deadly conflict and
clash between our Lord Jesus and the religious establishment. Although Jesus is
the authentic owner of Israel, the religious leaders of the nation vehemently
opposes and rejects his authority and teachings. They are trying to kill him
from the beginning but now they want to take into action immediately when Jesus
has cleansed the temple. In fact, Jesus is the Son of God and the Creator of
all things through whom nothing was not made that has been made. Why do they
not submit to the master of the universe? Because they do want to practice
their authority over others, thinking a mere carpenter Jesus is threatening and
challenging their authority and stronghold religiously and traditionally built
and established over the years of all sorts of struggle. They are in great
misunderstandings and sheer darkness and blindness caused by their evil pride
and wicked desires. How does our Lord Jesus handle their challenge to his
glorious authority? How does our Lord Jesus teach us regarding authority? There
is only one source of all authority. All power and authority is from God
himself. This is revealed by the Lord Jesus when he was interrogated by Pontius
Pilate. “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from
above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.”
(John 19:11)
“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. “Tell us by what authority you
are doing these things,” they said. “Who gave you this authority?” He replied,
“I will also ask you a question. Tell me: John’s baptism—was it from heaven, or
of human origin?” They discussed it among themselves and said, “If we say,
‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Why didn’t you believe him?’ But if we say, ‘Of
human origin,’ all the people will stone us, because they are persuaded that
John was a prophet.” So they answered, “We don’t know where it was from.” Jesus
said, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.”
(Luke 20:1-8)
Luke carefully lists out all the religious establishment
including the chief priests and the teachers of the law, together with the
elders. They come to confront Jesus when he is teaching the people in the
temple courts and proclaiming the good news. What a blessed voice it might have
been to the people! The Creator of all things is speaking the truth, unraveling
the mysteries of God the Father who called a man Abraham and gave him a promise
that through his offspring all nations would be blessed (Genesis 22:18). This
ancient and old promise has finally been fulfilled by the faithfulness and
passion of God that the Promised Son has come to the earth in the likeness of
man. What Jesus has been doing in the land during his earthly ministry over three
and a half years of period is to teach the kingdom, to heal the sick, to drive
out demons, to open the blind, to raise the dead, to feed the hungry, and to comfort
the poor in spirit. Our Lord Jesus has been teaching the kingdom in public like
in open fields, synagogues, and the temple courts. “I have spoken openly to the
world, I always taught in synagogues or at the temple, where all the Jews come
together. I said nothing in secret. Why question me? Ask those who heard me.
Surely they know what I said.” (John 18:20-21) All things he has spoken could
be heard and compared with the Scriptures whether true or not.
Despite of numerous evidence and demonstration made and
presented to the nation, the establishment come forth and challenge Jesus,
saying “Tell us by what authority you are doing these things? Who gave you this
authority?” They are utterly upset and brewing the murderous threat when the
Lord Jesus has driven out all the animals from the temple court, overturning
the tables of money changers. They have not been interested at all in his words
and miracles but in his background like the speculating birth story. One thing
is sure that Jesus has never attended any rabbinical school. To their eyes,
Jesus is not the insider or of their own but the unknown outsider and yet
attracts vigorously the eyes and minds of the people. It has been bothering
them from the beginning of Jesus’ ministry and even to the core. See how
hateful and vicious are their words. They are angry, resentful, murderous,
harmful, intimidating, and threatening none other than the Lord of glory and
honor and power. In their minds, they have already stoned him to death. This is
exactly what our Lord Jesus has warned to the listeners of the message of good
news. If they do not listen nor take heed to it, they will walk in darkness. “You
are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the
light, before darkness overtakes you. Whoever walks in the dark does not know
where they are going. Believe in the light while you have the light, so that
you may become children of light.” (John 12:35-36) More than enough evidence
and miraculous demonstrations have been throwing out before their own eyes and
ears. Showers of blessed words of God and the effects of being touched and
welcomed and obeyed have visibly been manifested in the midst throughout the
times of the Son of Man in the earth.
How does our Lord Jesus respond to their groundless
challenge? Jesus picks one question for the challengers and asks for an answer.
“Tell me: John’s baptism—was it from heaven, or of human origin?” Jesus is not
asking of John but John’s baptism. Why baptism? What is it? Although there has
been a ceremonial cleansing by water, John’s baptism is a new way of cleansing
introduced to the nation Israel. It is the language of representing the death
and resurrection of Lord Jesus Christ and the saints who has died, been buried
and raised from the dead with Christ. Apostle Paul says the people of Israel
were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea (1 Corinthians 10:2). They
were in the safest passage to the land of liberation because they relied on the
death of the Son Jesus Christ. Likewise, we all have been baptized into Christ.
“So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you
who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” (Galatians
3:26-27) This is the way of salvation in God and of reconciliation with him.
Through the Son’s death, man enters into the most holy sanctuary of God because
the blood sacrifice of Christ has cleared the barrier of hostility. As long as
we rely on him who paid a price, we can access to the mostly holy place, the
throne of grace by faith since the blood of Christ removed the temple curtain
which had blocked to enter the holy of holies except once a year by the high
priest. These Jews do not answer either because they are not believing in
Christ but following the evil one. Our Lord Jesus does not tell them either by
what authority he is doing these things. In fact, he has already told them that
his authority comes from the Father, saying “Very truly I tell you, the Son can
do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because
whatever the Father does the Son also does.” (John 5:19) Jesus adds a parable
to shine more truth on what is inside in their minds and hearts.
“He went on to tell the people this parable: “A man planted
a vineyard, rented it to some farmers and went away for a long time. At harvest
time he sent a servant to the tenants so they would give him some of the fruit
of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. He
sent another servant, but that one also they beat and treated shamefully and
sent away empty-handed. He sent still a third, and they wounded him and threw
him out. “Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my
son, whom I love; perhaps they will respect him.’ “But when the tenants saw
him, they talked the matter over. ‘This is the heir,’ they said. ‘Let’s kill
him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ So they threw him out of the vineyard
and killed him. “What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? He will
come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others.” When the people
heard this, they said, “God forbid!” Jesus looked directly at them and asked,
“Then what is the meaning of that which is written: “‘The stone the builders
rejected has become the cornerstone’?
Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it
falls will be crushed.” The teachers of the law and the chief priests looked
for a way to arrest him immediately, because they knew he had spoken this
parable against them. But they were afraid of the people.” (Luke 20:9-19)
Jesus tells a parable which reveals how much the nation
Israel has been rebelling and opposing against God until they are eventually
poised to kill the Son of God. They have been rejecting the true king because
they want to be the king, sitting his throne. It has been told by the Lord God
to Samuel, “And the Lord told him: ‘Listen to all that the people are saying to
you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king.
As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day,
forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you.’” (1 Samuel 8:7-8)
God has been so patient and tolerant for his people who are running far away
from his loving kindness and grace and chasing and following after the
meaningless and heartless idols. This is the exact picture of humanity fallen
and lost in Adam. They are gasped at the hearing of the parable of Jesus
Christ, saying “God forbid!” Impossibility and improbability of such a thing
happening are in their minds. Very reasonable and logical are their
understanding of the parable! But then Jesus Christ looks directly at them and
asks, “Then what is the meaning of that which is written: “‘The stone the
builders rejected has become the
cornerstone’? Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces; anyone
on whom it falls will be crushed.”
Just as it is written and told, our Lord Jesus Christ was
rejected and despised by his own people and bled and died on a cross. “He was
despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like
one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low
esteem. Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered
him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our
transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought
us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have
gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all." (Isaiah 53:3-6) Instead of punishing us, God
punished his Son in our place. Instead of judging us, God judged his Son in our
place. Instead of being angry at us, God was angry at his Son in our place. Instead
of crushing us, God crushed his Son in our place. Instead of rejecting and
despising us, God rejected and despised his Son in our place. Why did God do so
to his own Son? So that, no one can excuse that God does not love them. So
that, God made the Son the corner stone that who falls on that stone will be
broken to pieces and anyone on whom it falls will be crushed. “Is there any
questions on the authority of the Son?” Is it not what the Lord God is saying
to man? Who can dare to challenge the cornerstone and be spared? We have such a
confidence to stand before God through the faith in the Son Jesus Christ. “Let
us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive
mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” (Hebrews 4:11) He is
immovable and invincible and unshakable no matter what challenges, obstacles,
stresses and pressures come. He is the cornerstone! He is our Lord and Savior
now and forevermore! He is our Defender and Advocate now and forevermore! Amen.
March 21, 2017
© 2015-2017 David
Lee Ministries – All Rights Reserved.
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