Mark 11:26-33 Authority
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: March 22, 2018, Mark 11:26-33
Note 1: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
But if you do not forgive, your Father in heaven will not forgive your sins.” Then they went into Jerusalem again. While Jesus was walking in the Temple, the high priests, the scribes, and the elders came to him and asked him, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority to do them?” Jesus told them, “I will ask you one question. Answer me, and then I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. Was John’s authority to baptize from heaven or from humans? Answer me.” They began discussing this among themselves. “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ But if we say, ‘From humans’…?” They were afraid of the crowd, because everyone really thought John was a prophet. So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.” Then Jesus told them, “Then I won’t tell you by what authority I am doing these things.”
(Note) It is interesting that some versions of the Bible do not have a verse 26. It is not that they leave out the information. Instead they include it in verse 25. The translation that I used for March 21 did not have 26, so I am including it here just to keep my numbering continuous, but the idea was covered in verse 25 of the March 21 Bible verses that I used.
(Understanding the Text) That morning they had passed by the withered tree and discussed it, and then they traveled on to Jerusalem. They entered the temple and were walking in it when the high priests, the scribes, and the elders came to interrogate Jesus. This was an official delegation. It says the high priests were there, so it sounds like both Caiaphas and Ananias were in the group. This is Tuesday. Essentially, this same group will pronounce judgement on Jesus in three days on Friday. This is the beginning of the end of the Jewish nation as the representatives of Yahweh. They have a decision to make. There are Old Testament prophecies that indicate a possible future if the Jewish nation had accepted the Messiah that is different than if they rejected Him. These leaders are at a crossroads, and they are about to choose the wrong road that will end in the destruction of Jerusalem. Some of them might have already died from old age and health issues before the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, but it is ironic that they are justifying their decisions as preserving their nation when in fact their decisions in the next few days will seal their nation’s doom. This is the problem with political expediency and letting our political views modify God’s word. In choosing the “logical” or “politically right” decision, we may be heading down a road of destruction when we were trying to preserve the status quo. We are blind to the future, and our only safety is to follow the principles of God’s word and not compromise because God knows the end from the beginning while we do not. God knows how to work around the roadblocks that Satan throws up while we mistake the tunnel painted on the rock face for a real tunnel (to use a roadrunner and coyote analogy). In fact, the power of the Holy Spirit can sometimes make us a roadrunner to race right through the traps set up for us. On the other hand, trying to live our lives according to worldly logic ensures that we become coyote and are repeatedly caught and destroyed in the traps of our own making.
(Revelation of God / Understanding the Text) Jesus knew that these same leaders would be putting Him on trial in just a few days, but He faced them with courage and grace. The leaders think that they have Jesus on the spot when they ask Him what His authority was for throwing the moneylenders and sellers and buyers out of the temple the day before. After all, they believed that they were the highest authority over the temple, and Jesus had not had their permission. Thus, they believed that they could discredit Him before the crowd that surrounded Him. However, Jesus answers in a way that they never expected. He asks them a question instead of answering their question.
(Understanding the Text) Jesus asks whether John received his authority to baptize from heaven (from God) or from humans (from himself). Because John had died a martyr, it was difficult to discredit him now. The common people in the temple all believed that John was from God. John had spoken out in the manner of the Old Testament prophets and had done nothing that could be used to discredit him. Thus, everyone believed that John the Baptist was a prophet of God, except, of course, these leaders who believed only in themselves and the world but not God operating in their society. They personally believed that John the Baptist was simply another Messiah-like figure (without claiming to be the Messiah) who had become popular for a while with the common people, and then died, and soon would be forgotten. However, they believed in the power of the people, so they knew that they could not say their true belief that John was not from God. They must have had a little whispered conference right there in the courtyard where they decided to refuse to answer Jesus’ question. One answer would anger the crowd. One answer would put them in a corner because John had testified that Jesus was the Messiah. And their authority meant that they were not required to answer a question from a commoner like Jesus. Thus, they said that they didn’t know where John received his authority from. Jesus responded that if they did not answer His question, then He would not answer theirs. (However, in the next few verses, Jesus essentially answers the question.)
(Application) I should not worry about skeptics who challenge my beliefs. They do not believe in God Himself. They do not believe in creation. They do not believe in the commandments given in the Bible. They pay lip service to the path of love while following a different path. The skeptics’ ideas are invalid and not reality and time will reveal that the deceptions they believe to be lies. In the meantime, I don’t need to challenge their beliefs. Instead, I need to maintain my faith and love for Jesus and be ready to give an answer about that faith and love if I am asked. I don’t need to solve the world’s problems politically or be anxious about the oppression and lies that I see everywhere. Instead, I need to follow God’s plan which will provide the only workable solution in the long run.
(Prayer) Teach me to trust You and not worry about the worries of the world. Help me to point others to You for their security rather than a political group or other organization. Give me the words to teach others that trusting in You to act is better than trying to force action in a worldly way. Thank You that You are always able to see a way forward in every situation. Teach me to follow You through the tangled paths of life.