WordLive - Year OneSample

Prepare: How do you respond to the word ‘authority’? Is it something you resist? Or does it represent something you can trust?

A question of authority
Why should we listen to Jesus? More to the point, why should we obey him? Those questions are just as central today as they were then. Jesus’ actions in the Temple (vs 15–17) had triggered a strong reaction from the chief priests and teachers of the Law (v 18). Now they came out into the open, and this time the elders were with them as well (v 27).

Together they formed the 71-strong Sanhedrin, the highest legal body in Judaism. Perhaps not surprisingly, they wanted to know what authority Jesus had and who had given it to him (v 28). As we will see over the coming days, this question about authority would run and run. As indeed, it still does.

Jesus’ identity
Jesus’ response was to ask another question (vs 29,30), a common technique at the time. And with that question he linked himself to John the Baptist. They quickly saw the trap. As if they were responding to a survey, they fudged it with a ‘don’t know’ (v 33).

But when Jesus brought John into the argument, it wasn’t a random choice. Those who had been with John knew full well the answer to the Jewish leaders’ questions – the voice from heaven had been quite clear about Jesus’ identity (Mark 1:11).

Respond: How can Jesus’ authority be seen in your life? Will it make any difference to what you do today?

http://www.wordlive.org/Session/Classic/2012-11-15