The Question of Authority

It was about 85 years ago, in the early 1940s, during World War II, that Germany began bombing Britain in 1940 and 1941 very incessantly, and then that bombing continued sporadically in the 19- early 1940s, 1942, up until 1943.

It was during that time that the BBC, the British Broadcasting Corporation, that they began to air a series of religious broadcasts that featured lectures, messages from a well-known Christian author, a professor at Oxford University, a name that you will recognize, a man named C.S. Lewis.

C.S. Lewis, in those broadcasts, talked about Christianity, he talked about the Gospel.

And in spring of 1942, in the second series of those broadcasts that he was doing, he introduced what became one of his most famous apologetic arguments regarding Jesus Christ.

It was called his trilemma, and I'm sure s- m- some of you, many of you have heard this argument before.

In fact, Pastor John talked about it from this very pulpit from time to time.

The trilemma was C.S. Lewis's response to those in Britain, and by extension to anyone who reads his work, it was his response to those who acknowledged that Jesus was a real historical figure, and yet they wanted to take kind of a neutral position towards Christ.

He's a good teacher, he's a moral example, but they did not want to submit to his lordship.

You know, war has a way of causing people to think about their own mortality and to consider questions of e- of an eternal nature.

And so for Lewis to address this topic at that time in England's history was, of course, very effective and influential.

But to those who would want to claim some sort of indifference or neutrality towards Christ, Lewis said, "Jesus doesn't allow for you to take that position." His claims and the things that he did are of such a nature that either, and this was the trilemma, you must conclude that Jesus was a liar who misled his followers, a lunatic who deceived himself, or he truly is the Lord who he claims to be.

The religious leaders in the passage that we are looking at this morning, Mark 11:27-33, they also understood that they could not remain neutral with regard to the claims of Christ.

Either you dismiss him or disavow him as a liar and a lunatic, or you submit to him and recognize that he is the Lord who he claims to be.

There is no other option.

There is no middle ground.

Even Jesus himself in Matthew 12:30 put it this way, "Those who are not with me are against me." You either recognize and submit to him for who he truly is, or you reject him in unbelief.

Now, we'll see in verse 33 of our passage that the religious leaders do try and weasel their way out of this confrontation with Jesus, and they do so by claiming some sort of agnosticism or ignorance.

"We, we do not know," they say.

But as our passage makes clear, claiming ignorance is no excuse.

And so we come back to that third and ultimate question, what will you do with Jesus Christ? This passage, Mark 11:27-33, takes place in the morning on the third day of Passion Week.