Daily Devotional • August 19
A Reading from Mark 11:27-12:12
27 Again they came to Jerusalem. As he was walking in the temple, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders came to him 28 and said, “By what authority are you doing these things? Who gave you this authority to do them?” 29 Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question; answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. 30 Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin? Answer me.” 31 They argued with one another, “What should we say? If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ 32 But shall we say, ‘Of human origin’?”—they were afraid of the crowd, for all regarded John as truly a prophet.33 So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.”
1 Then he began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a pit for the winepress, and built a watchtower; then he leased it to tenants and went away. 2 When the season came, he sent a slave to the tenants to collect from them his share of the produce of the vineyard. 3 But they seized him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 4 And again he sent another slave to them; this one they beat over the head and insulted. 5 Then he sent another, and that one they killed. And so it was with many others; some they beat, and others they killed. 6 He had still one other, a beloved son. Finally he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 7 But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ 8 So they seized him, killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard. 9 What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others. 10 Have you not read this scripture:
‘The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
11 this was the Lord’s doing,
and it is amazing in our eyes’?”
12 When they realized that he had told this parable against them, they wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowd. So they left him and went away.
Meditation
Before my call to be a priest, I was a registered nurse. One of the things that I liked as a nurse was using my identification badge to open almost any door in the hospital. This made me feel important; I had authority and power at my fingertips. This was given to me by the Human Resource department because I had RN after my name. Today, the chief priests, scribes, and elders are asking Jesus, “By what authority” did he have the right to cleanse the Temple.
Throughout the gospel of Mark, people ask this. Folks are amazed by the authority, and religious leaders are terrified. To answer their question, Christ asks them a question. “Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin?” (vs. 30) He refuses to answer them and they are forced to answer his question.
By asking them this question, they are reminded that authority comes from God. They are afraid of what the crowd will think. So, they respond not with what they believe. Jesus and this delegation sent to trap Christ all know that John was beheaded because he spoke the truth and feared God. The chief priests, scribes, and elders realized the parable that followed was against them. They become irate and want to arrest Jesus. Once again, they fear the crowd. They left Him and went away. Later, they will come and arrest Christ.
By what authority do you say Christ does things in your life? Does Christ have authority over you? How do you respond to his authority? Do you unlock the door of your heart and let him in?
The Rev. Sara Oxley is the rector of The Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd in Maitland, Florida.
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Daily Devotional Cycle of Prayer
Today we pray for:
The Episcopal Diocese of Albany
The Diocese of Nzara – Province of the Episcopal Church of South Sudan
