is he that gave thee this authority?" They placed Jesus in a dilemma;
if he should claim that authority had been delegated to him, then he might
be accused of disloyalty and of schism, in supplanting the recognized
"authorities" of the Jewish state; if he should claim inherent divine
authority, as identified with God, he might be condemned for blasphemy.

Jesus silenced his enemies with a question which involved them in a
counter dilemma: "The baptism of John, was it from heaven, or from men?"
They could not say "from heaven," for they had rejected John; they dared
not say "from men," for they feared the people by whom John was regarded
as a prophet. So they tried to escape by cowardly replying that they did
not know. Agnosticism is usually cowardly and deserving of little respect.

But Jesus did more than silence them; he answered them. His question was
no irrelevant riddle by which he met a difficulty and delayed the
necessity of a reply. He definitely implied that the authority of John was
divine and that his own authority was the same; but as they were afraid to
deny the divine authority of John they were also powerless to deny that of
Jesus; and further he implied that if they had accepted the message of
John, they would be prepared to accept Jesus. It is true that if we are
afraid to accept the logical conclusions of our doubts and denials, we
never can hope to discover truth.

Jesus further rebuked and exposed his enemies. When they said that they
did not know, Jesus knew, and they knew, and the crowds knew, that they
were not honest; the Lord had laid bare their hypocrisy; he had made it
perfectly evident that the real question at issue was not authority but
obedience. The enemies of Jesus pretended that they wanted to know more of
his credentials; they really wanted to discredit and entrap him. The
modern enemies of our Lord declare that they want more proofs, more
evidence; what they really lack is love for God and submission to his
will. Those who do not repent when John preaches, will not believe when
Jesus offers to save. The world needs to-day, not more proof of divine
authority, but more obedience to the divine will.

Jesus absolutely discredited his enemies in the sight of the people. They
were the constituted authorities in all matters civil and religious, and
yet they were made to confess publicly that they were not competent to
judge a clear, familiar, important case relating to religious authority.