By What Authority?
Jesus entered the temple courts, and, while he was teaching, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him. “By what authority are you doing these things?” they asked. “And who gave you this authority?” Jesus replied, “I will also ask you one question. If you answer me, I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. John’s baptism—where did it come from? Was it from heaven, or of human origin?” (Matthew 21:23,24)
Jesus was not just deflecting the question posed by the chief priests and elders.
Those reading Matthew’s gospel would have earlier come across the part about Jesus’ baptism. When Jesus came up out of the water the Holy Spirit came down over Him like a dove (Matthew 3:16,17). So Jesus was “anointed” by the Holy Spirit. The term “anointing” was used for oil being poured over someone as a visible picture of what the Holy Spirit was doing invisibly.
But the word “anointed” was the same as the word for “Messiah” – the coming One sent from God to rule His Kingdom. When Jesus was “anointed” God was showing those with eyes to see and ears to hear that Jesus was not only His Son but was the expected Messiah.
Had the religious leaders embraced John the Baptist, they would have embraced Jesus as the true Messiah. They would have known where He got his authority from.
In rejecting John the Baptist, the religious leaders were not only rejecting God’s true prophet but the true Messiah John was announcing.
Jesus’ authority came from God, the same God they claimed to represent but had completely lost touch with. They were really rejecting God and from this point on, God would reject them.
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