Verses 27-33 “27And they come again to Jerusalem: and as he was walking in the temple, there come to him the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders,
28And say unto him, By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this authority to do these things?
29And Jesus answered and said unto them, I will also ask of you one question, and answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things.
30The baptism of John, was it from heaven, or of men? answer me.
31And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say, Why then did ye not believe him?
32But if we shall say, Of men; they feared the people: for all men counted John, that he was a prophet indeed.
33And they answered and said unto Jesus, We cannot tell. And Jesus answering saith unto them, Neither do I tell you by what authority I do these things.”
This questioning of Jesus’ authority comes after His cleansing of the temple (verses 15-18). Temple authorities took advantage of the people, especially the poor people, in the selling of the sacrificial animals and in the exchanging of Roman coins for Jewish coins. Jesus over turned the tables of the exchangers and drove the abusers out. Our church buildings today are not as sacred or as important to our faith as the temple was to the Jewish religion. However, when a building has been dedicated to the Lord, we should make sure that our behavior therein helps to sanctify that building as a house of prayer.
The temple leaders were determined to find a reason to kill Jesus, hence the confrontation about His authority. But Jesus refused to argue with His enemies about His authority. We have God’s authority, too (God’s Word in the Holy Bible), but we, like Jesus, do not have to argue about it. We have to only present the truth of the Word and give an answer with meekness and fear (I Peter 3:15).