Jewish Leaders Question Jesus^(A)

20 One day Jesus was in the Temple, teaching the people and ·telling them the Good News [preaching the Gospel]. The ·leading [^Tchief] priests, ·teachers of the law [scribes], and elders came up to talk with him, ² saying, “Tell us what authority you have to do these things? [^LOr] Who gave you this authority?”

³ Jesus answered, “I will also ask you a question. Tell me: ⁴ When John baptized people, was that authority from ·God [^Lheaven; ^Ca reverent Jewish way of referring to God] or just from ·other people [human beings]?”

⁵ They ·argued about this [^Ldiscussed this among themselves], saying, “If we answer, ‘John’s baptism was from ·God [^Lheaven],’ Jesus will say, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’ ⁶ But if we say, ‘It was from ·other people [human beings],’ all the people will stone us to death, because they ·believe [are convinced that] John was a prophet.” ⁷ So they answered that they didn’t know where it came from.

⁸ Jesus said to them, “Then I won’t tell you what authority I have to do these things.”