Have you ever had your authority challenged?

Luke 20:1-8

Have you ever had your authority challenged?  If you had one of these roles, policeman, teacher, parent, or boss, I can almost with 100% accuracy proclaim you have, and I am sure you were quick to let the challenger understand why and where you got your authority.  In my forty-year career I only had one job where I was over an industrial sales force in title but not in authority, I was asked to grow the industrial business in Texas and Louisiana, and only had the ability to request or suggest the member of the team to follow my lead.  Did I tell you it was the job from hell, for without authority you are on a river without a paddle, and if you try it you are not going to go far without a wreck.

I’ve always wondered why more authors of management books have not looked at Jesus and the way he handled many situations.  Look at how he handled the chief priest, the scribes and the elders in their challenge of His authority.  “One day, as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the gospel, the chief priests and the scribes with the elders came up and said to him, “Tell us by what authority you do these things, or who it is that gave you this authority.”  (Luke 20:1-2 ESV)

Jesus’ reply was amazing, and very different from most of us, for this was the challenge; “Tell us by what authority you do these things, or who it is that gave you this authority.”  Before we go forward, ask how have I answered when my authority was challenged?  Now lets look at Jesus’ reply; “He answered them, “I also will ask you a question. Now tell me, was the baptism of John from heaven or from man?” And they discussed it with one another, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why did you not believe him?’ But if we say, ‘From man,’ all the people will stone us to death, for they are convinced that John was a prophet.” So they answered that they did not know where it came from. And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”  (Luke 20:3-8 ESV)

I have learned that it requires both parties to be truthful in negotiation and when that is not happening you are not negotiating.  That is where Jesus found himself with these religious leaders, they were not looking for information, they had one goal and that was to put to death the Giver of Life.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice