Mark 11:27–12:17

Bringing the sermon home:

On Tuesday of Jesus’ “Passion Week”, while Jesus is teaching in the temple, a delegation from the Sanhedrin (the Jewish religious authorities) approach Jesus and challenge His authority. Jesus exposes them as wicked shepherds, for they are controlled by their fear of going against popular opinion rather than by their fear of God. You can’t serve two masters: it’s either God or it’s people. Who is functioning as the authority in your life?

Jesus is showing us what it looks like to answer to a higher authority than to people. After the vindication of Jesus’ authority in His resurrection, His first followers were brought before this same council and likewise challenged: “By what authority do you teach these things about Jesus?” From the early church to the Protestant Reformers to hundreds of millions of persecuted Christians all over the world today, all of Christ’s followers are called to live lives that demonstrate allegiance to the authority of God’s Word above all else, regardless of the cost.

A group of these religious authorities then attempt to flatter Jesus, hoping that flattery will disguise their attempts to “trap him in his talk”. They wrongly assume that He is like them: easily taken in by flattery due to an insatiable thirst for praise from others. To grow in Christ's likeness means growing in not caring about anyone’s opinion but God’s. Whose favor are you most afraid to lose? May the Lord free us from the fear of man, that we may no longer seek the approval of others more than we seek the approval of God.