Jesus' Authority (Mark 11:1-26)

In keeping with the idea that Jesus’ authority is the theme of Mark 11:1-26, the theological implications of these scriptures for everyone, believer and non-believer, are much the same. First of all, Jesus is Lord. He does possess authority--authority to speak a curse to a fig tree and the fig tree wither; authority to enter into the temple of the Lord, a sacred place, and clear the moneychangers out; authority to tell his disciples to enter a village and take someone’s colt, explaining simply that the Lord is in need of it; authority to be worshipped and granted a triumphant entry into the holy city of Jerusalem; and authority to promise his disciples that they can pray for anything and they will have it.

To the non-believer, the implications are fairly simple. To know Christ is to know not just a man, but a man who holds total and complete authority. The Jesus that they are told about is more than a man: he possesses the authority of God, thus leading them into the knowledge that Jesus is the Christ--he is God.

To we who are already in the faith, acknowledging that Jesus is Lord and making him Lord of our lives, these scriptures remind us of who Jesus is. It reminds us of one of many important parts of Jesus’ complex nature. When we read about Jesus in the gospels, we envision in our mind a man-walking, talking, teaching, breathing. When we study this section of the gospel, we see more clearly the authority of that man--a glimpse of the position and power from which he descended to earth. If we apply this realization of the authority that Jesus has to our lives, starting with our hearts, it becomes obvious to us how worthy he is of a triumphant entry into our hearts, how we must make our bodies which he has called his temple a place of prayer, how the authority of his Word holds power great enough to change our hearts and lives.

Essentially, in realizing Jesus’ authority, we may put him in his proper position of honor and glory.