Mark 11:29 Commentary and Bible Study

Again, his answer was not some clever evasion. It is a most important question. and he gives a most instructive answer. If the Lord were to say, my authority is given to me by the Father – which he had said on other occasions – then they would have the grounds to have him immediately seized for – in their eyes – blasphemy. So instead, he is going to respond by giving them his earthly authority. He not only had heavenly authority, but he had earthly authority also. His earthly authority came via John the Baptist, himself prophesied in the Old Testament: the forerunner that would come (Malachi 3:1). He is the one who identified and named Christ on earth, so Christ's question to them was entirely relevant. Notice that ‘answer me’ comes twice. He presses them to give an answer as a condition of his answering them, but he knows they will be unwilling to do so. But Christ’s question has nothing hidden in it. It is all out in the open. ‘The baptism of John, was it from heaven, or of men?’ Those were the only two possibilities. Either it was from God and must be received as heavenly, or it was from men and should be ignored and even exposed as a fraud.What lies behind his question is this: Christ had taught exactly the same things as John the Baptist. John the Baptist preached a message of repentance and remission of sins; your sin can be washed away; your sin can be forgiven. John the Baptist had preached those things and the scribes and the Pharisees did not pass judgment on him. It was their job to pastor and protect the people, and if John the Baptist had been declaring heresy, then it was their job to say so. But they had not declared themselves on John the Baptist; they said nothing. So this is a most relevant question. It is late, but there is still time, says Christ. Declare yourselves on John; make a statement; advise the people. Should he be listened to or not? Is he right or is he heretical? If you will answer that, then I will answer you. If they wouldn't answer that, then they surrendered all authority; they forfeited it; they didn't deserve to be considered as leaders at all. And then there is another point. John the Baptist had testified of Christ. He had explicitly spoken of Christ as the one who would come after him: his worth and his majesty and what he had come to do. He had pointed him out before all the people: ‘Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world.’ John not only taught the same things as Christ; he had actually pointed to Christ. He had identified him, he had authenticated him. Well now, says Christ to them, ‘What do you say about John the Baptist?’ The question is explicitly about John's baptism but it covers everything. John the Baptist had received an official visitation from the Sanhedrin Council (John 1:19-27), the very people who are challenging Christ. He denied that he was the Christ, but said that the Christ was already among them, and they knew him not.