‘Who gave you this authority’?

The Life of Jesus Christ - Chapter 9 - Jesus' last week in Jerusalem - Part 4

Previous article | Life of Jesus Christ Index | *Word List | Next article

An online Bible Study course by Barrie Wetherill about the life of Jesus. This book is in EasyEnglish Level B. Use the links below for other online Bible Study books and commentaries that will help you. Or go to the Word List, which explains words with a *star.

Easy English Bible homepage | Matthew (commentary) | Mark (commentary) | Luke (commentary) | John (commentary)

The rulers ask Jesus about his authority

The Jewish rulers came to Jesus. Jesus had shown his authority in the *temple. Now, the rulers demanded to know what kind of authority Jesus had. They asked who gave him that authority.

Jesus replied with a question. He asked what authority John the Baptist had. The rulers could not answer this. They did not believe John. But all the crowds thought that John was a *prophet. They did not dare to deny this. They could not agree that God had sent John. They did not want Jesus to reply, ‘Why did you not believe John?’ So they would not answer.

The rulers did not respect Jesus' authority

Jesus' authority, like John's, came from God himself. But the rulers did not respect John's authority or Jesus' authority. So, they did not respect God.

Jesus then told several parables. (Parables are stories which have a meaning.) The real meaning of these parables became more and more clear. These parables are about the way that most Jews would not welcome the *Messiah. God would *judge the Jews. Especially, he would *judge the people in Jerusalem.