When Jesus returned to the Temple and began teaching, the leading priests and elders came up to him. They demanded, “By what authority are you doing all these things? Who gave you the right?” “I’ll tell you by what authority I do these things if you answer one question,” Jesus replied. “Did John’s authority to baptize come from heaven, or was it merely human?” They talked it over among themselves. “If we say it was from heaven, he will ask us why we didn’t believe John. But if we say it was merely human, we’ll be mobbed because the people believe John was a prophet.” So they finally replied, “We don’t know.” And Jesus responded, “Then I won’t tell you by what authority I do these things. (Matthew 21:23-27)Sometimes you are stuck between a rock and a hard place.
Jesus was teaching and healing and in general becoming very popular as a representative of God. But he had never been ordained or given any sort of official recommendation by any credentialing organization. This irked the religious leaders, all of which had probably worked hard for their credentials.
And then along comes a guy who had done nothing but work in a carpenter shop all his life and he had the audacity to claim to speak for God.
Who did he think he was? So they asked him. Who gives you the right to do all the things you do? Who is your credentialer?
Jesus asked them a simple question: do you recognize credentials when you see them? It took the form of the question, was John the Baptizer’s authority from heaven or man?
Here was the rock and hard place. If they said from man, the people who heard him and obeyed his teaching as from God would be angry and they would lose face for denying something so obvious.
However, if they said from God – the obvious answer – Jesus would say, well, why didn’t you listen to him? It was a conundrum they did not enjoy. Either way they were hung.
So they opted for the ignorance idea. We don’t know.
Jesus’ answer: that is your problem. You would not know authority if it came up and bit you on the ankle.
They had resisted the authority of the men of God all their racial lives. All the way back to Moses they had fought those who had come from God and refused to listen to them, even to the point of killing those they disagreed with.
I am ordained in the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel with an international license. That means that the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel recognizes me all over the world. But when it comes down to it, I have no more credentialing than the woman who has been a homemaker all her life yet who has felt the word of God in her for years and wants to tell of it.
I like the fact that I am ordained and have the official imprimatur of the church on my ministry. But I would do it anyway, even if unordained, and have in the past.
They asked Jesus, where is your badge? Jesus answered, in effect, we don’t need no stinking badges. And besides, you would not recognize the true badge of authority anyway, even if shown you by actions.
No one could say Jesus didn’t have the power of God. Even these men knew that. So they tried the permission gambit. Who gave you permission?
Jesus just cut to the chase and said, your problem is that you cannot recognize permission when you see it.
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