Again they came to Jerusalem. As he was walking in the temple, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders came to him and said, “By what authority are you doing these things? Who gave you this authority to do them?” (Mark 11:27-28)

              It was Holy Week and the temple leaders were trying to find some reason to have Jesus arrested. He was challenging their authority, calling into question their faithfulness to the commandments, and filling the people with the crazy notion that God’s kingdom was near.

              “By what authority,” those leaders wanted to know, was Jesus “doing these things?”

              Jesus was teaching and proclaiming something that seemed both new and old. He was appealing to the commandments of God – love God and love your neighbor, for instance – but he was doing it in a way that undermined the status quo. He spoke with conviction about God’s kingdom which was very different from the kingdoms of this world the people were familiar with. In doing all of that, he filled the people with hope, hope for better lives and hope for a better world.

              Although Jesus refused to answer the question and give the temple leaders what they wanted, we might say that his authority came from his unique relationship with God and his deep understanding of the truth. The truth was that God had more in mind for God’s people. The truth was love that overcomes all divisions. The truth was a world of peace and abundance for all and not just the privileged few.

              Whose authority to speak the truth do you recognize today? And what truth do they speak? Is it God’s truth of love and peace for all, or some other vision of our world?

              In the end, the temple leaders found their reason to have Jesus put to death, but on Easter Sunday we discover that the authority of God’s holy truth wins the ultimate victory.