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Daniel English
September 27, 2026
Sermon – Pentecost 18 (Proper 21A)
Matthew 21:23-32
Jesus Has the Authority from God the Father to Save You from Your Sin
“When [Jesus] 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?”
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The question on everyone’s mind… is Jesus’ authority. What kind of authority does he have? Where did he get it? More specifically —the chief priests and the elders of the people ask— “who gave you this authority?” For us it is important to know the answers to these three questions: What kind of authority does Jesus have? Who gave Jesus this authority? And most importantly, what does Jesus do with the authority that He has been given? Jesus has been given all authority in heaven and earth by God the Father because Jesus is the perfect Son of God, and He uses His authority to wash you clean from all your sins, to adopt you as His child, to send you the Holy Spirit, and to rescue you from death and hell by keeping you in the one true faith.
Jesus definitely has authority, and the chief priests and the elders of the people know it. They assume it in their question to Jesus in the temple when they say, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” Jesus has only been in Jerusalem for two days at this point, but he’s moving quickly now, and he’s attracting a lot of attention. Even before He arrived, he was becoming quite well known. Matthew records that “the whole city was stirred up”[1] when Jesus enters Jerusalem. He rides down the road in a kind of kingly procession, fulfilling Old Testament prophecies and claiming kingly authority. He rides all the way to the temple and starts cracking a whip to clean the place up, to kick out the riff raff. It’s like he’s saying, “I have authority here.” But the question being posed to Jesus now is much more than, “Hey Jesus, do you have a right to be here?” Remember, Jesus didn’t just come into the temple and clear out the money-changers with a whip… He also performed wonders by healing the blind and the lame. The little infants cried out in faith, “Save us, Son of David!” The whole thing is miraculous[2]… and it shows us the kind of authority Jesus has.
One day later, Jesus is on His way back to the temple. On the way, He curses a fig tree and it withers[3]… because He also has authority over nature. When we’re looking for it, we see that Matthew is showing us —in what Jesus is saying and doing— exactly what kind of authority Jesus has. When teaching, Jesus doesn’t teach like the scribes… He teaches as one with authority by instructing His listeners on how to live… by telling them what they should be doing and not doing… Jesus has the authority to say what is right and what is wrong.[4] He exercises authority over demons by casting them out of people possessed. He commands authority over disease and disability by cleansing lepers and restoring cripples to complete health. Jesus’ authority is so absolute that He calls people to wake up from death as though they were simply asleep. Some of the last recorded words of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew are, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”[5] We’ll come back to that, but suffice it to say, Jesus has authority. Jesus even has the authority to forgive sins.[6]
So where did He get it? Who gave it to Him? That’s the question. Jesus is going to answer the chief priests’ and elders’ question… with another question. “The baptism of John,” Jesus asks, “from where did it come? From heaven or from man?” If they can answer Jesus’ simple question, then they will receive an answer to their own question. Except, the question isn’t so simple because either answer will get them into trouble.
John the Baptist is called the “forerunner” to Christ, the “one who goes before” Christ to prepare the way. John the Baptist was out in the wilderness baptizing and proclaiming, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”[7] When Jesus comes out to meet John at the Jordan River, He begins his public ministry by being baptized by John. “16 And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; 17 and behold, a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.’”[8] The Holy Spirit comes down from heaven in the form of a dove and rests on Jesus. The Voice of God the Father proclaimed from heaven that Jesus is His Son, that He loves Jesus, and that Jesus is well pleasing to Him. What do you think? Where does the baptism of John come from? Heaven or man?
The chief priests and elders are unable to answer. They actually refuse to answer. The obvious answer —that John’s baptism comes from heaven— is one they can’t believe. If the chief priests and elders admitted this, they would have no good reason to disbelieve John… and they would have no good reason to disbelieve Jesus, that He is the Christ and the Son of God. They would have no good reason to rebel against Jesus’ authority. The only other option would be to say that John’s baptism is from man and not from God, but let’s remember where we are. The chief priests and elders are asking this in the temple surrounded by people who yesterday were blind and lame, but today have both sight and able bodies. They don’t think it would go over very well to reject John and Jesus in front of people who accept John as a prophet and Jesus as the Messiah and Lord. They fear the crowds. So… like all too many people who have dug in their heels protecting their own interests or their own way of life, they choose agnosticism. They say, “we don’t know.” Do they really not know the answer, or do their hardened hearts reject what they know must be true? The answer to the question Jesus asks is the same to that asked by the chief priests and elders. Both the authority that Jesus has and the baptism of John come from God the Father in heaven.
After Jesus’ baptism, before He even arrives in Jerusalem, an event similar to His baptism occurs on the Mount of Transfiguration. Jesus takes Peter, James, and John (the Evangelist) up on the Mount of Transfiguration. His appearance changes before them, He is transfigured. His face shines like the sun, and his clothes glow bright white. Instead of coming down from heaven in the form of a dove, it seems the Holy Spirit is shining out directly from Jesus’ face. The Voice from heaven speaks again, “…a bright cloud [overshadows the disciples and Jesus], and a voice from the cloud [says], ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.’”[9] God the Father proclaims —again— that Jesus is His Son, that He loves Jesus, and that Jesus is well pleasing to Him. This time He also commands, “Listen to Him.” Are you listening? Jesus, the perfect and pleasing Son of God, receives all authority from God the Father.
All authority is a lot of authority… all of it. Maybe you’ve heard the saying, “Power tends to corrupt, absolutely power corrupts absolutely.”[10] It comes from a letter written by a politician, Lord Acton, to a Bishop Creighton in 1887. Lord Acton believes that most men of power are evil, he believes that power corrupts. There’s definitely no shortage of examples in history of men with great authority committing great evils: murderous leaders like King Herod —who kills the male children in and around Bethlehem in search of Jesus in order to try and protect his title, or Herod Antipas (his son) —who kills John the Baptist at the request of his niece in order to try and protect his reputation, or the Chief Priests and Elders questioning Jesus —who eventually conspire to kill Him in order to try and protect their credibility and authority. All these people abuse their power to serve themselves. Jesus shows us a different way. With all the authority on heaven and earth, He lays down his life for our sake. In every moment He does what is good and pleasing to God, even to the point of dying on the cross to atone for our sins. Then in a miraculous show of His power and authority, He rises from the dead. The question of Jesus’ authority and where he gets that authority is not one we can leave unanswered.
After the chief priests and elders refuse to answer, Jesus sets a parable before them about a man with two sons. The father asks both sons to work in his vineyard. One says, “I don’t want to.” He won’t go. The other says, “Here I am, I will go.” The one who promises to go… doesn’t go. The other who said he wouldn’t go… repents and goes. Jesus asks, “Which of the two did the will of his father?”[11] Both are sinners, both reject their father’s command, but only one sinner repents. In the parable, only one sinner turns from his sin and seeks to do his father’s will. Jesus is saying that just saying it is not enough. Empty words are not sufficient. Jesus’ parable echoes John the Baptist’s warning to the Pharisees and the Sadducees when they come out to Jordan River to interview him as he is baptizing: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. 9 And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. 10 Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”[12]
Let’s not ignore the warnings from John and Jesus. Let’s not presume to say to ourselves that we deserve anything from God, that we earn forgiveness by our own doing. Let’s not call ourselves poor miserable sinners, then leave this sanctuary with every intention to continue carelessly in our sin. Let’s not consider our turning in repentance as some great work as though it hasn’t all come from God as a gift. Instead, struggle against your sin. Flee when you’re tempted. Pray to God for Him to help you, and take shelter in His Word by reading it every day. It is by the power and gift of God’s Word that your body and your mind are changed, renewed, and finally resurrected to new life.
I mentioned earlier that some of the last words of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew are, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”[13] He continues, “19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”[14] With all authority on heaven and earth, Jesus establishes His church, He establishes Holy Baptism into the Triune Name, and He commissions ministers to preach and teach in His church about the free gift of forgiveness won on the cross and deliver it to you in Baptism. With all authority on heaven and earth, Jesus promises to be with you, and He invites you to join with the fellowship of the saints at His table to receive grace upon grace by eating His very body and drinking His very blood.
Let us follow the train of tax collectors and the prostitutes, cleansed from all their sin, into the kingdom of God, believing exactly what John the Baptist has told us: “Behold, [Jesus is] the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”[15]
[1] Matthew 21:10
[2] Matthew 21:12-16
[3] Matthew 21:18-19
[4] Matthew 7:28-29
[5] Matthew 28:18
[6] Matthew 9:6
[7] Matthew 3:2
[8] Matthew 3:16–17
[9] Matthew 17:5–6
[10] John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton, “Acton-Creighton Correspondence,” in Essays on Freedom and Power, ed. Gertrude Himmelfarb (Boston: Beacon Press, 1948), 364.
[11] Matthew 21:31
[12]Matthew 3:7–10
[13] Matthew 28:18
[14] Matthew 28:19–20
[15] John 1:29
