January 20

Luke 20:2 (NIV)
2 “Tell us by what authority you are doing these things,” they said. “Who gave you this authority?”

The Pharisees knew about authority, they had a lot of it. Their question to Jesus is an interesting one. We can only assume that they were looking for a Rabbi’s teaching for him to base His authority upon. In all that Jesus says about them we can see that they loved being in charge. There authority as Rabbi’s, teachers, members of the Sanhedrin enabled them to be honored personally and it also created an environment where they could tell people what to do. Jesus had a different authority and they knew it. They couldn’t understand that it came from God, which was plain because of the miracles, because they had already rejected Him and therefore had become blind to the truth.

Jesus had authority from heaven! Heaven is the only place that authority comes from. Jesus gave us the same authority that He had. My answer to those Pharisees would be, Jesus, Jesus. We have authority people – let’s use it how Jesus used it and not how the Pharisees used it. Let’s use it to be like Jesus!

Acts 10:38 (NIV)
38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.