Luke 20:1-8 1And it happened on one of the days while he was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the gospel, the chief priests and the scribes with the elders approached him, 2and they spoke, saying to him, “Tell us by what authority you are doing these things, or who is the one who gave you this authority?” 3But answering he said to them, “I will also ask you a question, and you tell me: 4Was the baptism of John from heaven or from people?” 5They discussed among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why did you not believe him?’ 6But if we say, ‘From people,’ all the people will stone us to death, for they are convinced that John was a prophet.” 7So they answered that they did not know from where. 8And Jesus said to them, “Nor will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”
The controversy between Jesus and the religious officials grows bigger in this passage. What day of the week this took place is not clear. Jesus spoke in the temple from Sunday until at least Wednesday of holy week. The focus of his ministry was proclaiming the good news of the kingdom. Jesus began his ministry proclaiming the good news of God’s kingdom (4:43) and ended his ministry with the same message. It was the message people needed to hear. The world is still full of bad news of sin, corruption, exploitation, and injustice that destroy people, families, and nations. The kingdom provides peace and joy (19:37-38), but people have to come willingly and humbly to Jesus to find this. When people reject the way of the kingdom, they will not experience the benefits of it.
Three groups, in particular, confronted Jesus and raised questions about his message and authority. The confrontation looks like an official delegation of the leaders of the people and temple area. The chief priests were the highest priests who were allowed to go into the Holy of Holies in the temple to make atonement for the people. The scribes were the scholars who spent their time reading the Scriptures and teaching about them. They also meticulously copied the Scripture in manuscripts. The elders were older, mature men recognized in the community for their wisdom. They were distinguished leaders of various councils, including the Sanhedrin. Their controversy with Jesus was over authority (exousian). Authority is the power and ability to carry out a task. These leaders had not authorized what Jesus was doing or teaching. They were the authorities and power holders, not a rogue teacher from Galilee. Their question implies anger and jealousy.
Jesus responded to their question with a question of his own. At first, it might seem that his question is not related to the events that were happening and their criticism of him since the focus was on John the Baptist. John came preaching a similar message of repentance. Even the leaders had to recognize that John spoke with authority and was a messenger from God. He was very popular with people, and his name and reputation were widely known. They had two choices: either John was a true prophet from God (from heaven), or he was just a human preacher out in the desert.
The Jewish leaders were stuck in how to answer. If they said John was from heaven, then they were disobedient to God because they did not listen to him. They knew their problem of unbelief and chose not to listen to John. They had essentially hardened their hearts against a prophet of God. If they said John was just a human preacher, then they were in trouble from the people because of John’s popularity. It would have been embarrassing to say this and result in a loss of their reputation, influence, and control. They tried to take a neutral position by claiming to be ignorant, which only showed the shallowness of their convictions.
Jesus responded in the same way because it is useless to argue with hypocritical people. Jesus was popular with the people because he spoke the truth and met their deep needs. The religious elite missed out on his transforming message because of their hardened hearts. People today give the same type of responses. They will either harden their hearts because of presuppositions, ignorance, or self-preservation, or they will move towards accepting Jesus and eventually becoming his disciples.
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