Eighteenth Sunday After Pentecost September 26-27, 2026
“Authority” Matthew 21:23-32
Rev. John R. Larson Ascension Lutheran Church Littleton, Colorado
“Who do you think you are?” When that is spoken to you it is not a question. It is an accusation.
“Who do you think you are?” Don’t try to answer it by saying such things as: “I’m just a kid from Minnesota.” “I’m interested in computers and reading.” “My favorite food and drink is pizza and beer.”
No, when they say to you, “Who do you think you are?”, you are being accused of overstepping your position. You have taken some form of control or power or initiative, and someone thinks you have crossed the line.
“Who do you think you are?” That was the tone behind the words that were spoken to Jesus, during Holy Week, right after He turned over the tables in the Temple, scattering all the birds that were for sale and throwing the coins all over the place – making a mess and causing a great disturbance. Our reading begins, “Jesus entered the temple courts, and, while he was teaching, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him. ‘By what authority are you doing these things? And who gave you this authority?’” (Matthew 21:23)
In that first century the questions about the authority of Jesus dogged him every day. He didn’t have a position. He didn’t have a pedigree. He didn’t have wealth. He was known as the carpenter’s son. So, when Jesus came and started speaking with conviction and authority and said things that upset those in positions of power and influence, they had questions for Him, “Who do you think you are?” “By what authority are you doing these things?”
Did you know that Jesus came within a few steps of not being crucified under Pontius Pilate? Jesus was in His hometown of Nazareth – where He went to school and learned how to be a carpenter. He went to the synagogue on a Saturday – the Sabbath – and read from Isaiah, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Matthew 4:18-19) This was a Messianic prophecy – what the Christ was going to do when he came. Jesus sat down, and all the eyes were upon Him and He said with great authority, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
“Who do you think you are?” Jesus answered it clearly. Then Jesus spoke about how the God of Israel was deeply concerned about those who weren’t Jewish. Those folks didn’t like His posturing of authority. “They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him down the cliff.” He was a dead man. They would have gotten away with it. But we are told how that plot was handled. “But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.” (See Luke 4:16-30) It wasn’t his time to die.
It was just a few days after our reading from Matthew 21 and the question about who He thought He was, that Jesus ran into the same question. Now it was the high priest, the one with as much authority as one could have, who is speaking to Jesus late in the evening on Holy Thursday, who asks, “Who do you think you are?”
“The high priest said to Jesus, ‘I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell me if you are the Christ, the Son of God?’ Jesus replied, ‘Yes, it is as you say. But I say to all of you: In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.’” (Matthew 26:63-64)
Do you remember what Caiphas did? He tore his robes in disgust and contempt for what Jesus said. He said that Jesus had committed the unforgiveable sin – blasphemy – saying that He had the full authority of God Himself – and Caiphas said that Jesus had earned the penalty of crucifixion.
Who do you think you are? By what authority do you do this? Jesus answered them. But what would they do with His answer?
Did you know that relationships go both ways? A relationship isn’t just one way – it must go both ways if it is a true interaction.
Jesus, after hearing their question of who He is, asks them the same question – but in a little different way. Jesus says, “I will also ask you one question. If you answer me, I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. John’s baptism – where did it come from? Was it from heaven, or from men?” They discussed it among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ But if we say, ‘From men’ – we are afraid of the people, for they all hold that John was a prophet.” So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.” Then Jesus said, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.” (See Matthew 21:24-27)
Jesus was asking them, “Who do you think you are?” Can you be honest? Can you take a stand about John? Can you confess that you won’t repent of unbelief and evil? Or, will you just hide so you can keep your position of power and prestige? They were slimy and impossible to catch.
That is what we can be. We can be so elusive. We don’t deal with matters up front. We can make excuses for our sin and for our actions that have been less than honest.
Jesus gave His hearers one more chance to change their answer to His question, “Who do you think you are?” Jesus tells the “Parable of the Two Sons” (Matthew 21:28-32). “Go and work in my vineyard” was the demand of the father to his two boys. The first one answered quickly. “I will not.” But he later changed his mind and went to work the vineyard. The second son said he would, but he didn’t. He went back to bed and didn’t keep his word. Jesus asked the folks who heard His parable, “Which of the two did what his father wanted?” They answered – “The first one.”
Jesus uses this to speak about what He hoped to do among those who wouldn’t come to repentance and faith. “I tell you the truth, the tax collector and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.” (Matthew 21:31-32)
The leaders, the ones with great positions, were the ones who promised they would go and do the father’s work and never did. Those who had said no to the father, whose lives were opposite of His will for them, changed and eventually sought out the father and did his will.
Jesus wanted them to look deeply and answer the question “Who do you think you are?” with a great answer – their answer could have been, “I will be honest with God and self – I will acknowledge my need for Him and look for His forgiveness and a new beginning to life.
“Who do you think you are?” is now based not on simply seeing self – in a proudful, arrogant way or in a dismal, hopeless view, but it is based on how we see our Savior – Jesus. Who we think we are is based on who we know He is. The epistle for today is from Philippians 2:
Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who being in the very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:5-11)
Jesus was asked, “Who do you think you are?” Jesus made it clear. He is the one with all authority. He destroyed the power of sin and hell and evil and death. He is Master and Lord.
We are asked, “Who do you think you are?” Our answer is clear and honest. We are sinners in need of cleansing. We are broken people in need of rebirth. We are the poor made rich. We are the prisoner given freedom.
Who are we? We belong to Jesus. Amen!!
