By What Authority?

After His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, Matthew recorded this as the Savior’s first action: “And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.” We might think from these verses that He was unduly angry or harsh, but that was not the case at all. I was struck today as I read this to see the very next thing He did after this first dramatic event: “And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them.” And thus it seems that His first action of removing those who shouldn’t have been there at the temple was to prepare the way so that He could heal and bless those at the temple as was fitting of that place. It is also interesting that the criticism He received from the Jewish leaders at that point was not that He had cast out the moneychangers; rather, they were upset that people were praising Him for His great works: “And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; they were sore displeased, And said unto him, Hearest thou what these say?” (Matthew 21:12-16). They couldn’t argue that those who bought and sold in the temple needed to be cast out; but they wouldn’t bear to see Him being glorified by the people. These verses show that the Savior was committed to following the two great commandments as He had taught the people: He cleansed the temple out of love for His Father, and He subsequently healed the people as He showed love to those in need. This was a powerful introduction to His final week as He would continue to show firmness in His devotion to His Father while ultimately blessing all humanity through His teachings and great atoning sacrifice.

               The next day Jesus came back to the temple from Bethany, and the “chief priests and the elders of the people came unto him as he was teaching, and said, By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this authority?” Rather than answering them directly, Jesus responded this way: “I also will ask you one thing, which if ye tell me, I in like wise will tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John, whence was it? from heaven, or of men?” They couldn’t decide how to answer because they had not believed John but most of the people accepted Him, so they replied lamely, “We cannot tell” (Matthew 21:23-27). Jesus then responded that He would not tell them either by what authority He did the works He did. I remember on my mission in our apartment finding a note by some previous missionary who wrote next to this passage in a set of scriptures there something like this: “Never answer like that!” I think his point was that as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints we can tell by what authority we teach and baptize and perform the work of the Lord, even the priesthood of God restored in these last days. But I don’t agree with the sentiment of the note—if the Savior thought it fitting not to speak of where He had authority to do the mighty works He did, perhaps it would behoove us to speak a little less of our line of priesthood authority and how it has come to us from the Savior and instead focus more on the power of the priesthood that should be manifest in our deeds. No one could really argue that the Savior had authority, for the works He did were too powerful to believe otherwise. And so it should be for us; by our works and through the Spirit of the Lord others should see and feel that we indeed have been called to carry on the work of Jesus Christ in this dispensation. We can stand up for the right, just as the Savior did among the moneychangers, and serve and bless others like He did to the blind and lame in the temple without the need to immediately tell others about the keys of the priesthood and the authority by which we were baptized. If through our acts we show a firm devotion to the Lord and a great love to our fellowmen, that will do much more to help others come to know that God has called His servants again in these last days than if we declare it with our words.