When he had come into the temple area, the chief priests and the elders of the people approached him as he was teaching and said, “By what authority are you doing these things? And who gave you this authority?” 24 Jesus said to them in reply, “I shall ask you one question, and if you answer it for me, then I shall tell you by what authority I do these things. 25 Where was John’s baptism from? Was it of heavenly or of human origin?” They discussed this among themselves and said, “If we say ‘Of heavenly origin,’ he will say to us, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’ 26 But if we say, ‘Of human origin,’ we fear the crowd, for they all regard John as a prophet.” 27 So they said to Jesus in reply, “We do not know.” He himself said to them, “Neither shall I tell you by what authority I do these things.
The religious and civil leaders of the Jewish community challenged Jesus’ power and authority to perform the healings, exorcisms and miracles, as well as to interpret the Law. They were trying to trap Jesus into saying his power and authority came from God so they could accuse him of blasphemy (Mt. 26:64-66). Jesus had previously been asked this question and answered, “The works I do in my Father’s name testify to me (Jn. 10:25).” Challenged again, he responded the way the Rabbis responded; by asking if JBap’s baptism (Mk. 1:4) was, “Of heavenly or of human origin (v. 25)?” They were trapped and unable to answer him.
Almighty God, the Psalmist prays that those who set a trap for him fall into it themselves. Your Son taught us to pray for those who lay traps for us. We pray that you rescue us from all snares set for us so that we can continue to live in your truth and light, and through our lives, bring your Gospel of love and peace to a world in turmoil. This we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen!
References
Chiu, José Enrique Aguilar, et al. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. Paulist Press, 2018.
Brown, Raymond Edward, et al. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Upper Saddle River, NJ, United States, Prentice Hall, 1990.
Comments