21:23-27
Jesus was causing them problems, so the religious leaders tried another tack, they questioned his authority. What it was and who gave it to Him. They had two problems, one was that God the Father had given him the authority, the other was their own duplicitous behaviour. So Jesus highlighted the second by asking them a question regarding John the baptist. John was popular, and his message was pointing to Jesus, so if they accepted John the Baptist they had to accept Jesus, if they denied John the Baptist they could be in trouble with the crowds. The religious leaders were in a bind, so they refused to answer the question, and so Jesus refused to answer them.
Authoritarian leaders rarely have as much authority or power as they seem to have.
