On
one of those days, as he was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the Good News, the priests and scribes came to him with the elders. They asked him, “Tell us: by what authority do you do these things? Or who is giving you this authority?” He answered them, “I also will ask you one question. Tell me: the baptism of John, was it from heaven, or from men?” They reasoned with themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why didn’t you believe him?’ But if we say, ‘From men,’ all the people will stone us, for they are persuaded that John was a prophet.” They answered that they didn’t know where it was from. Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”
Luke 20:1-8
Luke 19 [47.] He was teaching daily in the temple, but the chief priests and the scribes and the leading men among the people sought to destroy him. They couldn’t find what they might do, for all the people hung on to every word that he said.
Luke 20 [1.] On one of those days, as he was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the Good News, the priests and scribes came to him with the elders. They asked him, “Tell us: by what authority do you do these things? Or who is giving you this authority?”
Luke 20 [3.] He answered them, “I also will ask you one question. Tell me: the baptism of John, was it from heaven, or from men?”
Luke 20 [5.] They reasoned with themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why didn’t you believe him?’ But if we say, ‘From men,’ all the people will stone us, for they are persuaded that John was a prophet.” They answered that they didn’t know where it was from.
Luke 20 [8.] Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”
Luke 20 [9.] He began to tell the people this parable. “A man planted a vineyard, and rented it out to some farmers, and went into another country for a long time. At the proper season, he sent a servant to the farmers to collect his share of the fruit of the vineyard. But the farmers beat him, and sent him away empty. He sent yet another servant, and they also beat him, and treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty. He sent yet a third, and they also wounded him, and threw him out. The lord of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son. It may be that seeing him, they will respect him.’
Meaning:
Jesus had cleared the temple of traders and was teaching there every day, while the leaders looked for a way to destroy him (Luke 19:45-48). In this passage they confront him openly with a question about his authority. Jesus answers with a question of his own about John the Baptist. Mark and Matthew record the same exchange (Mark 11:27-28; Mark 11:29-30; Mark 11:31-33; Matthew 21:23-27).
- “As he was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the Good News”
Luke shows what Jesus was doing when he was challenged: teaching and proclaiming the Good News. The priests, scribes and elders who came to him represented the three groups that made up the Sanhedrin, the ruling council of the Jews. They had official authority over the temple, and Jesus had acted there without their permission.
- “By what authority do you do these things?”
“These things” included the entry into Jerusalem, the cleansing of the temple and the daily teaching. The question was a trap. If Jesus claimed authority from God, they could accuse him of blasphemy. If he claimed no authority, he would lose the people’s respect. From the beginning people had been amazed at his authority: “What is this word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!” (Luke 4:36).
- “The baptism of John, was it from heaven, or from men?”
Asking a counter-question was a normal way for teachers to debate. But Jesus’ question was not an evasion. John had pointed to Jesus as the one coming after him who was mightier than he (Luke 3:16). If John was sent by God, then his testimony about Jesus was true, and the leaders had their answer. Their attitude to John would reveal their attitude to Jesus.
- “They reasoned with themselves”
The leaders did not ask which answer was true but which was safe. If they said John’s baptism was from heaven, Jesus would ask why they had not believed him. Luke had already told us that “the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the counsel of God” by refusing John’s baptism (Luke 7:30). If they said “From men,” they feared the people would stone them. So they claimed not to know. Men who claimed the right to judge Jesus admitted they could not judge John.
- “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things”
Since they would not answer honestly, Jesus does not give them another answer. Yet the parable that follows makes plain whose Son he is (Luke 20:9-16). After his resurrection he declared, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth” (Matthew 28:18).
The Significance of Luke 20:1-8
- Honest seeking
The leaders were more concerned with protecting their position than with finding the truth. Those who genuinely seek God must be willing to follow the truth wherever it leads, even when it costs them.
- Recognising the authority of Jesus
Every person must answer the question these leaders avoided: where does Jesus’ authority come from? Those who accept John’s witness and see Jesus as “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29) gladly submit to his authority.
Cross-References:
Mark 11:31-33: Mark’s account of the leaders’ reasoning and their reply, “We don’t know.”
Luke 7:29-30: How the people and the religious leaders responded differently to John’s baptism.
Matthew 28:18: "All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth." The authority of the risen Christ.
Conclusion: When the leaders demanded to know by what authority Jesus acted, he asked them whether John’s baptism was from heaven or from men. Afraid of the truth and of the people, they refused to answer, so Jesus did not answer them either. The exchange exposed their unbelief and pointed to the divine authority of Jesus.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible