They came again to Jerusalem. And as He was walking in the temple, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders came to Him. And they said to Him, “By what authority are You doing these things? And who gave You this authority to do these things?”

But Jesus answered and said to them, “I also will ask you one question; then answer Me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things: The baptism of John—was it from heaven or from men? Answer Me.”

And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ But if we say, ‘From men’ ”—they feared the people, for all counted John to have been a prophet indeed. So they answered and said to Jesus, “We do not know.”

And Jesus answered and said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.” (Mark 11:27-33)

Who’s the boss? The religious leaders believed they were. But Jesus acted with obvious confidence. He never asked the religious leaders for their permission. He never sought their favor. That was part of their annoyance with him. He didn’t acknowledge who was boss. In fact, he acted as if he was the boss. So the chief priests, the scribes, the elders questioned Jesus’ right to do what he was doing.

When they asked him who had given him his authority, they weren’t really looking for an answer. They already knew that they had not granted Jesus permission to do what he was doing. With their question, they were simply telling Jesus to shut up and go away.

But the religious establishment had forgotten that they were not in charge of the temple. The temple belonged to God. They served in the temple because God had placed them there. They served God, and they served the people of Israel. They were merely servants, not the bosses they imagined themselves to be. But they couldn’t understand that, any more than they could understand who Jesus actually was: the God they claimed to be working for, whom they claimed to worship and love and care about. In that sense, Jesus was boss, not them.

So who’s the boss? Not even the right question. It had never been about being in charge. Even Jesus wasn’t about being in charge. He was all about being a servant.

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