A night’s rest is all he needs apparently, for on this morning Jesus returns to Jerusalem and goes right back into the temple.  But this time he enters the temple for the last time.  There are crowds there to support him, and he seizes the opportunity to teach them once again.  Unnerving to the priests and scribes, however, they decide to approach Jesus, challenge him, and hopefully outwit him.

    Jesus enters the temple for the last time, and there a trap is set.  The priests and elders have decided to challenge Jesus’ authority, asking him by what authority he does all “these things”?  “Who gave you this authority?” they ask.  This is a fair enough question.  In fact, you might say it is even a responsible question to ask any charismatic figure.  And this is not the first time Jesus has been challenged to present his credentials either.  For those of us who know the story, however, the question is an ominous one, for we know that it is precisely those who ask the question who will constitute the court that will sentence Jesus to death.  Yes, the question may be a responsible question to be asked if truth is sought.  Here, however, the motivation is self-interest and power.  “By what authority are you doing these things . . .?”  This is not an academic question but rather an ominous shadow cast over the life of Jesus.  It is meant to be a trap.

    Traps can be very ugly indeed.  I remember when my aunt and uncle’s dog caught his leg in a trap someone set on their farm in southern Ohio, the dog literally had to chew his leg away from the trap to escape.  And I also remember when my son was about nine and decided he wanted to trap a squirrel and make a pet out of it.  Even here where the intent was not malicious, the frantic terror of the poor animal made it very clear that traps can be mean and ugly.  Jesus enters the temple for the last time, and here the priests and elders seek once more to entrap him.  Their question is not just an academic one.

    The question of Jesus’ authority has been around from the beginning, and all of us who are confronted with Jesus ultimately must answer that question for ourselves.  It is the crowds who always recognize Jesus as teaching with authority, healing with authority, even conferring authority on the disciples!  They do not question it but recognize it.  It is the Pharisees who claim Jesus’ authority comes from the ruler of demons!  Yes, all who are confronted by Jesus must answer this question for themselves - and that includes you and I!

    To claim authority usually means to claim obedience from others.  Parents expect their children to obey them.  Corporate supervisors believe they should be obeyed by those whom they manage.  Students should obey their teachers.  Doctoral candidates should obey their dissertation advisors and committees.

    We know well, however, that authority can easily be corrupted and abused.  The dangers of authority were spoofed on one episode of the cartoon show “South Park” - that cartoon designed to offend everyone and everything.  In this particular episode a policeman who can’t read goes to third grade to learn to read and makes the foul-mouthed, contrary bully named Eric Cartman his deputy.  Cartman, riding on his tricycle and wearing a badge, stops a man who is driving a car.  Cartman asks him if he knows what the speed limit is, and the man answers, “Forty miles an hour.”  Cartman then asks him how fast he was going, and the driver says, “Forty miles an hour.”  Cartman then orders the man out of his car and starts beating the poor guy with a Billy club, screaming about how he should respect his authority.

    Authority easily corrupts, and I find it curious that, in spite of all this talk about Jesus and authority, Jesus really did not claim any authority for himself!  Yes, the gospels understand the words of Jesus as words of authority - words that command obedience - but how curious it is that those things that obey Jesus are evil spirits, sins, diseases, handicaps, winds, and seas - NOT people!  As always Jesus turns the conventional wisdom of the day on its ear.  We are caught up short and need to reconsider.  What does authority mean for those who would follow Christ?

    Jesus responds by asking a question which now puts the priests and elders on the hot seat.  “Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin?”  If they answered it was from heaven, then they would have some explaining to do as they were hardly disciples of John.   If they answered of human origin, they risked discrediting themselves and angering the crowd.  They evade Jesus by simply answering, “We do not know.”

    Not to be outwitted, however, Jesus ironically responds to their evasion with a parable.  The scholar Albert Nolan comments that “nothing could be more unauthoritative than the parables of Jesus.  Their whole purpose is to enable the listener to discover something for himself.  They are not illustrations of revealed doctrines; they are works of art which reveal or uncover the truth about life . . . The parables were addressed not to the poor and the oppressed or to Jesus’ disciples but to his opponents.”  They do not require obedience.  They do not dictate.  Rather they are intended to persuade by prompting the listener to think and respond for himself or herself.  There is nothing more unauthoritative than the parables of Jesus, yet that is precisely the tool Jesus uses to respond to those who question his authority!

    There is a man with two sons.  He tells them both to go work in his vineyard.  One refuses but later has a change of heart and goes anyway.  The other says, “Sure Dad,” but never shows up.  “Which of the two did the will of his father?”  Jesus asks the priests and elders.  The priests and elders may have tried to evade Jesus’ first question, but here Jesus loops them back into the debate.  The issue is not Jesus’ authority now but how one responds to God’s call, to God’s invitation into the kingdom.

    Discipleship is more than knowing and obeying all the ritual laws.  Responding to God’s call is more than going to church regularly; it is more than saying our prayers every night; it is more than reading the Bible; it is more than theological study; it is more than affirming certain doctrines and beliefs.  What we say we believe must be reflected in what we do.  We must walk the talk, as they say.  Discipleship is more than just emotional fervor; it is more than a grand vision; it is more than hope for the future.  Fervor and emotion and vision and hope are hollow if one does not act today.

    To the argumentative priests and elders who seek to entrap him Jesus responds, “The tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you.  For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believe him; and even after you saw it, you did not change your minds and believe him.”  The issue is not Jesus’ authority.  It is how we respond to God’s call to repentance and God’s invitation into the kingdom.  The kingdom is not built upon empty and hollow ritual obedience but upon a conversion of heart that seeks only the truth.  “Jesus did not expect others to obey him; he expected them to ‘obey’ the truth.”  (Nolan, p. 124)

    The great preacher George Buttrick says that in this parable “the voice of Jesus strikes upon the chaos of modern religion like a clear bell.  He shames our crude evangelism . . . He shames the current popularizing of religion . . . He shames our orthodoxy with its petty dogmas . . . He shames our liberalism with its light rejection of the hard-won truths of generations . . .  He shames our psychologizing of religion with its pretense of sounding the depths of the soul . . . Into this fetid brawl Jesus comes like a cool wind driven across the stars.  This is his message: Do what you know to be right, and ampler truth will dawn upon you as you walk . . . Let worship and neighborliness be the divine alternation of your life.  Thus you will gain the kingdom as you help others gain it.  Thus you will prove your sonship [or daughtership] in the test of deeds.” 

    As Jesus enters the temple for the last time, the question of authority is the wrong question.  The question is how do we respond to God’s call.