Have you ever had that moment when you thought or said, “Who made you the boss?”

Someone in authority or a leader makes a decision and you think you know better. If we are honest, this happens all the time. Yet, in most cases, we have no authority over the situation, nor are we asked to offer an opinion in the matter.

A story in Luke helps us  better understand how we are to respond to authority.

Luke 20 is about an owner (God) of a vineyard (God’s people) who allows renters (leaders) to manage his land. At one point, the owner decides he wants some fruit from his land, so sends his servant (those prophets and those who point to Christ as the true Messiah) to get fruit from the vineyard. But the renters beat up the servant and give him nothing. The owner sends a second, then a third servant and all are beaten. Finally, the owner sends his son whom the renters not only beat, but kill.

The heart attitude of the renters was rebellion, saying to the owner, “Who put you in charge?” The point is that when we are under authority, and we all are, the wrong response to an order is to question the person in charge.

The story is about the rejection of Jesus’ claim to be the Messiah. The leaders of the day did not listen to Him or respect His authority. Instead, they took the attitude, “Who made you the boss? We’ll take matters into our own hands!” And of course, doing so was not a wise move.

The application to us has much to do with respecting God’s authority and leading in a godly way.  Leaders stand and fall according to God’s timing and plan. But when they think they are operating on their own, without God’s authority and not in line with teachings of Christ, they will eventually fall and be judged by God.

Ultimately, we will all face the boss and clearly know, we were never in charge!