Holy Tuesday 11am

Tuesday
11am  

By what authority?

When Jesus entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching, and said, ‘By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you the authority?’ Jesus said to them, I will also ask you one question; if you tell me the answer, then I will also tell you by what authority I do these things. Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin?’ And they argued with one another, ‘If we say, “From heaven”, he will say to us, “Why then did you not believe him? But it we say, “Of human origin”, we are afraid of the crowd; for all regard John as a prophet.’ So they answered Jesus, ‘We do not know.’ And he said to them, ‘Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.’ (Matthew 21:23-27)

Jesus comes back to the scene of his outburst of anger on the previous day. The chief priests and the elders are waiting for him.  They must have known that he would be back, that that was not his final word, not his final action. But they weren’t ready to arrest him, not just yet.