Saturday in the Eighth Week of Ordinary Time, June 3, 2023

Mark 11, 27-33

Jesus and his disciples returned once more to Jerusalem. As he was walking in the temple area, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders approached him and said to him, “By what authority are you doing these things? Or who gave you this authority to do them?” Jesus said to them, I shall ask you one question. Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. Was John’s baptism of heavenly or of human origin? Answer me.” They discussed this among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘Of heavenly origin,’ he will say, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’ But shall we say, ‘Of human origin’?”– they feared the crowd, for they all thought John really was a prophet. So they said to Jesus in reply, “We do not know.” Then Jesus said to them, “Neither shall I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

“The chief priests, the scribes, and the elders approached him.”  This procession of notables crossing the Temple courtyard, must have aroused the attention of everyone around, as it was meant to do.  Furthermore, a gathering of this kind did not come together spontaneously.  It had been previously discussed and planned.  The Jewish authorities meant to confront Jesus publicly in order to make him answer their questions and to challenge him.  If they had managed to discredit him here, Good Friday would not have happened.  “By what authority are you doing these things? Or who gave you this authority to do them?”  They are demanding an explanation for the Lord’s throwing out the animal sellers and the money changers on the previous day, following his triumphal entry into Jerusalem.  To them, Jesus is merely the carpenter from Nazareth in Galilee, a second-class Jew, with no training from the rabbis and the Pharisees.  Indeed, he has contradicted these and asserted his own teachings. In their eyes, he has no standing whatsoever to run out the animal seller and money changers — so necessary for the sanctioning of the Temple.

“I shall ask you one question. Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things.”  We should note the patience and humility of the Lord.  He seizes the initiative from the Jewish leaders but he does so in a natural way, as anyone might do.  He does not call down thunder and lightning to sow them, as he might have done.  He does not humiliate them.  The Jewish leaders, curious as to his question and certain of their ability to answer it, silently agree to his terms.  They think themselves able to completely discredit him simply by answering his question.  “Was John’s baptism of heavenly or of human origin? Answer me.”  There was probably a long pause between the Lord’s question and his demand for them to reply to him, as he waited for them to finish debating among themselves.  His question certainly caught them off guard.  They may have anticipated a question regarding the source of their own authority, to which they would have responded with the Scriptures.  Interestingly, the Lord does not ask them where they thought the authority for his miracles came from.  At other times when the Jewish leaders challenge him, he points to them emphatically.

“They feared the crowd.”  Their debate centers on their safety.  Their handing over Jesus to Pilate also reflected their concern for their personal safety for they feared Jesus would start a riot or uprising which would bring the Romans down hard on them: “The Romans will come, and take away our place and nation” (John 11, 48).  “We do not know.”  We can speculate on how the Lord would have responded if they had answered according to their true opinion: “of human origin”.  They did not dare, though, for the crowd that they had schemed to gather with their procession would have turned violently on them, possibly with Jesus egging them on.  But their “We do not know” affectively ended this attempt to discredit Jesus: they themselves, the leaders of Israel, appeared discredited for not knowing — as they should have, given their position and supposed wisdom — whether John’s origin was human or divine (and by “origin”, Jesus meant the origin of his vocation).  

“Neither shall I tell you by what authority I do these things.”  Their collective display of ignorance reveals the Jewish leaders to be incapable of understanding the Lord’s answer — even unworthy of it.  They slunk away, defeated but further embittered.  Still, the Lord does not punish them at this time for their impertinence and pride.  He gives them more time to think and perhaps to repent, for his desire is for their salvation.