The Question of Authority

During His final week, as He taught at the temple, the chief priests and scribes and elders came to Jesus with this question: “Tell us, by what authority doest thou these things? or who is he that gave thee this authority?”  His answer was another question: “I will also ask you one thing; and answer me: The baptism of John, was it from heaven, or of men?” (Luke 20:2-4)  His authority of course came from His Father, and so perhaps one of the reasons for this somewhat ambiguous response was to reverence His name.  Jesus had previously taught, “And the mysteries of the kingdom ye shall keep within yourselves; for it is not meet to give that which is holy unto the dogs; neither cast ye your pearls unto swine, lest they trample them under their feet” (JST Matt. 7:10).  If these chief priests had not learned to reverence the words of John, if they had not gained a witness through sincere seeking that John and his baptism were indeed from heaven, then surely they would not take seriously a statement from the Savior about His Father.  He was not going to let them take His words flippantly when He had in fact already told them when He was in the temple previously: “I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things….  If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me” (John 8:28, 42).  They didn’t believe Him then, and there was no need for Him to cast again the name of His Father before them to be trampled under there feet.

             Others have suggested that in this exchange the Savior really did answer their question on authority.  S. Kent Brown wrote, “It is possible, of course, to perceive Jesus’ own question about authority and the Baptist as an effort to dodge the question, ‘by what authority doest thou these things?’  But the ‘baptism of John’ rests on the same continuum as Jesus’ authority.  If that of John is ‘of men,’ so is Jesus’ leadership.  Hence, Jesus evidently seeks to beam a light onto his own authority by raising John’s to view—perhaps a second witness of sorts” (The Testimony of Luke, ch. 20).  If John’s baptism wasn’t valid, if it was of men, then Jesus who was baptized by John could not have been send from heaven.  Elder Bruce R. McConkie wrote this about the Savior’s response: “Jesus answered their question. He did not, as some have supposed, avoid the necessity of answering by asking a question of his own; rather, his question was so framed as to constitute a complete, though partially unspoken, answer…. This, then, was his question: ‘The baptism of John, whence was it? From heaven, or of men?’… Here then was their answer.  Jesus is saying ‘John has already answered your questions. My authority comes from higher than Rabbinic sources; it comes from my Father, as John testified when he said: ‘Behold the Lamb of God!’ If ye believed John, ye would believe in me” (Mortal Messiah, 3:354-55).  In other words, John the Baptist had already declared that Jesus was the Messiah, that He was sent from God, and so these chief priests needed no new declaration from the Savior.  Before the world began the Father presented His plan and asked, “Whom shall I send?”  Jehovah responded, “Here am I, send me,” and after Lucifer also responded, God declared, “I will send the first” (Abraham 3:27).  That was where He got His authority as the Savior of the world—from the Father in the beginning.