The question about authority, asked of Jesus by the Pharisees, as can be seen, returns to them like a boomerang: He, in turn, asks them a counterquestion...
The question about authority, asked of Jesus by the Pharisees, as can be seen, returns to them like a boomerang: He, in turn, asks them a counterquestion, one that they not only find difficult, but are simply afraid to answer openly. Where does this fear come from? Of course, there are "uncomfortable" questions that people do not want to answer, questions usually met, in one form or another, with the traditional "no comment." But when the Pharisees asked their question, should they not have expected a counterquestion?
Could they have foreseen that to an "uncomfortable" question they would receive an "uncomfortable" answer? Yes. Yet perhaps they still did not expect that this Preacher would play by rules other than the ones they had established. Behind the question about authority stood something quite understandable and definite, something in roughly the same sense as when the representatives of the Sanhedrin had earlier asked John the Baptist: who are you? A prophet? The Messiah? What should we report about you? And if you are neither one nor the other, on what basis do you do what you do? Jesus is asked about authority in evidently the same sense, with the expectation that He will declare Himself a prophet, the Messiah, or at least someone who has the right to do what He did in the Temple when He drove out the merchants.
He is not going to fit Himself into their framework. He asks a question about the substance of the matter: by what authority did John do what he did? He understands perfectly well, of course, that John, like every true prophet, received authority from His heavenly Father, and if the Pharisees recognized John as a man of God, they would have to look differently at His ministry as well. Of course, the issue here is not proving something to someone or justifying Himself in anyone's eyes.
The point is that, for the Pharisees themselves, such a view, a view "outside the rules," was essentially the only possible chance to see Christ Himself and His Kingdom in the true light. But they had to begin by rejecting all human fears, anxieties, and prejudices. In essence, by asking the Pharisees the question about John, Jesus invites them to do exactly this. But they refuse: they are afraid. And by this refusal they too make their choice. Far from the best choice, but a fully conscious one.
