March 4, 2011. Homily, Saturday, March 5, 2011.

Mt. 21:23-27

Jesus and His Disciples returned once more to Jerusalem. As he was walking in the temple area, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders approached Him and said to Him, "By what authority are you doing these things? Or who gave you the authority to do them?" Jesus said to them, "I will ask you one question. Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. Was John's baptism of heavenly or of human origin? Answer me." They discussed this among themselves and said, "If we say, 'Of heavenly origin, he will say, 'Then why did you not believe him?' But shall we say, 'Of human origin'?" - they feared the crowd, for they all thought John really was a prophet. So they said to Jesus in reply, "We do not know." Then Jesus said to them, "Neither shall I say by what authority I do these things."

The Gospel of the Lord.It is very clear that the group of men who approached Jesus were an official deputation from the Sanhedrin. “The chief priests, the scribes and the elders” were the three component sections of the Sanhedrin, the supreme religious authority of the Jews. They questioned his authority to teach. When authorities are quick to question people’s authority, it is because their own authority is the uppermost thing in their minds. Jesus had innate authority, but theirs was borrowed: that is why they felt so threatened. The weaker a man is, the more he will insist on his authority and privileges. Jesus was in no way intimidated by them, though they had power of life and death over him, as they proved in the sequel. He seems rather to have been bored by them. They had failed to make a connection with him. St Augustine: “They said, ‘We do not know.’ And because they had shut themselves up against him, by asserting that they did not know what they knew, the Lord did not open up to them because they did not knock. For it has been said, ‘Knock and it will be opened to you.’ But they not only had not knocked that it might be opened, but by their denial they barricaded the door against themselves. Then the Lord said to them, ‘Neither do I tell you by what authority I do these things.’”