Does Jesus have Authority in your Life?

Mark 11:27-33

The Sanhedrin were curious. They peered thru the columns of the temple as Jesus walks and teaches His followers on an afternoon in the temple. They picked their place and moment to stop him while he was in the midst of his discussion, to create the most effective disruption. “They demanded, “By whose authority did you drive out the merchants from the Temple? Who gave you such authority?”

The Sanhedrin were a political group, not a religious group.  They were a group of aristocrats. They were high priests, members of privileged families, and scribes (both Pharisees and Sadducees). They took on the role as peacemakers and formed an alliance with the Romans to promote peace among the Hebrews in Jerusalem. Their interest was to maintain peace between the ruling Roman empire and the Hebrews.

Sanhedrin believed that the messiah would come from the political arena. The messiah would be one of them. The savior of the world from Nazareth?  A son of a common carpenter?  Come on……are you kidding?? They intended to disrupt him and embarrass him with their question: “Who gave you such authority?”

We often ask a similar question. How do we recognize authority? Political position? Economic status? Inspiring  speech delivery?

Who are authoritative figures that come to mind? Presidents (Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan), World Leaders (Winston Churchill, Vladimir Putin). What about leaders like Hitler, Mussolini, Kim Jong-un of N. Korea, and Bashar al-Assad of Syria? All of these leaders have assumed political authority.

What makes Jesus different? We only know what Jesus did on earth for about 2-3 years of his ministry. How has his message been so effective? Jesus had no aristocratic background to give him authority, or did he?

His message was simple. Follow me and you will have eternal life. Love your neighbor as yourself. He performed amazing miraculous healings of the crippled, the blind and the lame of society. So, he declared his lineage and showed obvious signs of power.

His message was full of truth. He was challenged on many different occasions and could never be disproven.

Does Jesus have authority in your life?

Written by Mitch Hensley