Good morning, Jesus. Today I meet you in the temple, amidst the noise and tension. I watch you standing peacefully as the chief priests and the elders approach you. Their questions are full of calculation: “By what authority are you doing these things? And who gave you this authority?” They are looking for proof, for a certificate, for something they can grasp and refute.
But your authority, Lord, is not in papers and permits. Your authority is in what you do.
Your authority is one that saves
They saw in you a threat to their power, but I see in you the hope in my weakness. Your authority is not one that subjugates, but one that liberates. It is a power that heals and forgives.
“But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the paralyzed man, “Get up, take your mat and go home.” (Matthew 9:6)
It is an authority that does not take, but gives. It gives life, and life in abundance. This is the purpose of your coming, the reason for your work.
“For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him.” (John 17:2)
Open my eyes, that I may not be like them
How skillfully you turned their question back on them! You asked them about John the Baptist and caught them in their own web of fear and hypocrisy. They feared the people and they feared the truth. Their hearts were locked, their answers calculated. And they realized that John was more than just a voice in the wilderness.
“Then what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.” (Matthew 11:9)
John pointed to you, but they looked away. You stood among them, yet they did not recognize you. Their spiritual blindness prevented them from seeing the Savior who stood right before them.
“‘I baptize with water,’ John replied, ‘but among you stands one you do not know.'” (John 1:26)
Lord, protect me from having such a heart. Do not let me become like those who held the keys, yet locked the door to the kingdom of heaven before others and did not enter themselves. I ask you for a heart that is a lighted lamp, that I may always be open to your truth.
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.” (Matthew 23:13)
In the end, they stammered, “We don’t know.” What a sorrowful answer! This was not ignorance, but rejection. And you fell silent. Not because you had no answer, but because their hearts could not receive it. Your wisdom silenced their arrogance.
“They were unable to trap him in what he had said there in public. And astonished by his answer, they became silent.” (Luke 20:26)
Jesus, I do not want external proofs. My heart knows by what authority you act. It is the authority of Love, which created me and calls me to itself anew each day. And that is enough, for I am simply Yours.
Amen.
Amen 🙏
AMEN!!!!