All Authority

And when he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him as he was teaching, and said, "By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?" Matthew 21:23

It is Tuesday of Holy Week. Jesus had cleansed the Temple of the merchants and money changers. He told them that that His house shall be called house a prayer but they had made it a den of robbers. Soon after the blind and lame came to Him and He healed them, but the religious leaders saw what He was doing and were indignant.
What Jesus was doing was exhibiting, yet again, His authority and the religious leaders did not like it. In fact, they hated it and asked the question, “By what authority are you doing these things?” It is pretty obvious that these religious leaders did not want to hear the answer to their question. I would argue that they knew the answer yet they denied the truth. Jesus has all authority and He demonstrated this constantly and consistently in all that He did. In just a few short days, He would, yet again, demonstrate His authority by laying down His life for the sins of many by going to the Cross and taking it up again three days later.
The death, burial and resurrection of Jesus is the greatest display of His authority because in it He demonstrates His ability to redeem the lost, forgive sins, and reconcile believers back to a Holy God. We do not have that authority. The Bible tells us that we are helpless and hopeless apart form Christ’s authority to overcome our sins.
On this Holy Tuesday, I pray that we are ever aware of how great Christ’s authority is. I pray that we consider how good it is when we submit to that authority according to the scriptures. I pray that we also ponder the great length Christ has gone to demonstrate that authority on our behalf.