By What Authority? (Luke 20:2)

 


Monday, April 7, 2025


Psalm 90

Exodus 7:8-24

Luke 20:1-18


By What Authority? (Luke 20:2)


I wonder if you have ever had the chance to speak to door-knockers. We used to get a fair amount of them where I live – mostly JW’s, but I have seen Mormons once or twice as well. Unfortunately, if you are a Christian, you only seem to get one chance with them: once they learn you love the Triune God, they must put you on a “do not knock” list or something.


Despite the claims of these door-knockers, there is plenty of material in the Bible that speaks of Jesus as if he were God. And today gives us a wonderful example.


The chief priests and the scribes with the elders come up to Jesus and ask him by what authority he teaches the people and preaches the gospel. Never one to make things too easy for those who hate him, Jesus traps them in their own schemes. Yet, in the parable that he says afterwards, he answers their question beautifully: he speaks by his inherent authority as the Lord of Hosts.


During his triumphant procession into Jerusalem, the people quoted Psalm 118: “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” And so he quotes it back to them today: “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.” If this is a tricky Psalm to interpret, then he gives them a second text by which they can understand the first; Isaiah 8:13-15.


The text he quotes from Isaiah is the Lord speaking. And in that place, the Lord tells Isaiah that the Lord of hosts is that stone. God is talking to Isaiah about God; the Psalm is referring to that same God; that Psalm is talking about Jesus; Jesus applies both texts to himself. Here is the answer that the chief priests and the scribes and the elders were looking for. The authority by which Jesus says all these things is the authority of no-one less than God Almighty himself.


This transforms the scene entirely. We do not have a mere teacher standing up in the assembly giving some wise words. Rather, we have the promises of generations past coming to their glorious conclusion: God has come and is dwelling with his people, speaking with them face-to-face. The heart-breaking truth is that God is about to go and die for those same people; he is about to be bound to the altar of sacrifice and take the punishment for sins upon himself. But this just makes today’s scene even more beautiful. The king has come; he is with his people; he is about to go and fight the final battle on their behalf.


Oh, dearly, dearly has He loved!
And we must love Him too
And trust in His redeeming blood
And try His works to do.


What does Jesus’ humanity mean to you? What does Jesus’ Godhood mean to you?


Lord of Hosts, the cornerstone of our salvation and love: help us to grasp the beauty of your relationship with us, and help us to see that lovely beauty in every page of scripture.

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