By what authority are you doing these things?
Or who gave you this authority to do them?"
There was, perhaps, cause to wonder about the question of authority. Jesus was, after all, neither Pharisee, Sadducee, chief priest, scribe or elder. He couldn't claim to be from a renowned rabbinical school as Paul could claim that he studied under Gamaliel. And in spite of coming from the nowhere town of Nazareth and lacking any prestigious teacher he had amassed a large following, many of whom hung on his every word (see Luke 19:48). He felt no need to defer to precedence in his teaching, as evidenced from the Sermon on the Mount, where he famously updated doctrines given by Moses in the law with the pairs of "You have heard it said" and "But I say to you". He even claimed to forgive sins, a prerogative that belonged to God alone. Who would have the chutzpah to do such things? It was a question that ought to have led to a deeper consideration of the identity of Jesus. Such consideration could have eventually led people to recognize that his ministry was of heavenly and not human origin. But these individuals that sought to question Jesus weren't really interested in the truth. They were primarily concerned with what people thought. They envied the popularity of Jesus and his status with the crowds. This was why they couldn't offer a legitimate response to the counter-question Jesus posed.
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.
Getting caught up in what other people think to too great a degree can hinder our own search for truth. We can become caught in similar snares to these chief priests, scribes, and elders, where we can only think of propositions in terms of their popularity and not their truth value. We risk caring not so much about what is true but about appearing correct in the eyes of others. And the reason it is tempting to care about what others think about what we believe is because we tend want others to respect and value us. But if this value is tied to us always being right then we will be incentivized to never admit we are wrong and to never update our views based on new evidence. In discussions with individuals where ego is of greater value than truth compromise or agreement become unlikely. If we escape hostile diatribe it may only be replaced with evasiveness like that which we see from the opponents of Jesus.
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 authority with which Jesus said did the things he did was that of the heavenly Father. Jesus himself did nothing other than what he had seen from the Father (see John 5:19). But this truth was not one that his opponents were ready to hear. Jesus instead pointed them back to the ministry of John the Baptist. This might seem like he himself was merely evading the issue. But it was rather the case that he was trying to help his interlocutors recognize their own flawed ways of thinking. There was something of legitimate value, worthy of consideration and discussion, and ultimately of belief, in the ministry of John. But in that case as well envy at the crowds had caused them to harden their hearts and not believe him. And now, looking back, they were too paralyzed by concern from the crowds to take a firm stand against him. Taking a position, any position at all, based on what they really believed would have been a better starting place for discussions rather than their insincere speech intended to entrap him.
May we learn to care more about the truth than what the people think about the truth or about us for believing it. We recognize that their is much contrary pressure in the world pushing us in the opposite direction. And so we do well to heed the advice of Jude in today's first reading.
Build yourselves up in your most holy faith; pray in the Holy Spirit.
Keep yourselves in the love of God
and wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ
that leads to eternal life.
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