Episode Details

The religious authorities in the Temple of Jerusalem confront Jesus and demand from Him the authorization He has for preaching and teaching the people. They did not like this outsider. Anyhow, Jesus tries to help them face themselves by asking them first whether the baptism that St. John the Baptist had with the people was from heaven or only man-made. They did not think properly. Instead of reasoning out properly from the evidence at hand, they thought only like this. If we say it was from Heaven, then they could be asked by Jesus regarding the reason they did not believe him. If, on the other hand, they say it was only a product of man, then they feared being stoned by the people because everyone thought John's baptism originated from God. So they tell Jesus they did not know where John's baptism came from. Jesus told them that neither would He tell them where His authorization comes from.