Mark
11:27-33Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)
Messiah’s
Authority Challenged
27 They came again to Jerusalem. As He
was walking in the temple complex, the chief priests, the scribes, and
the elders came 28 and asked
Him, “By what authority are You doing these things? Who gave You this
authority to do these things?”
29 Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one
question; then answer Me, and I will tell you by what authority I am doing
these things. 30 Was John’s baptism from
heaven or from men? Answer Me.”
31 They began to argue among themselves: “If we
say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ 32 But if we
say, ‘From men’”—they were afraid of the crowd, because everyone thought that
John was a genuine prophet. 33 So they
answered Jesus, “We don’t know.”
And Jesus
said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these
things.”
Questions:
1.
Why were the priests, scribes, and elders upset at Jesus?
A. He destroyed
the money making opportunity the day before and people were more interested in
Jesus than the church officials. This made them upset.
2.
Why do you think the leaders of the church ask Jesus the question,
“By what authority are you doing these things?”
A. To see if
Jesus will say that God has sent Him, that He is the Christ King.
3.
What are these things the leaders are questioning Him about?
A. All the miracles
Jesus preformed. Say some
4.
Jesus responds with a question, “Was John’s baptism from heaven or
from men?” What does that mean?
A. If John
was from heaven then that means that John was blessed by God and sent by God,
and his message was about the second coming of Christ who is Jesus. That means that if the leader say this they
agree that Jesus is the King. If they say John is from men then all the people
in the crowed will explode with anger because they all believed John was a
prophet. It is a lose, lose situation
for the church leaders.
