By What Authority?

The King and the Cornerstone · Matthew 21

Story guide: Jesus faces three dignified leaders in the temple court as one answers with an uncertain open hand. This shared image is not a scene-for-scene rendering of Matthew 21:23-27.

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23And when he came into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him while he was teaching and said, “By what authority are you doing these things? And who gave you this authority?”

24But Jesus answered them, “I also will ask you one question, and if you answer me, I also will tell you by what authority I do these things.”

25The baptism of John—from where was it? From heaven or from men? And they were reasoning among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’”

26But if we say, ‘From men,’ we fear the crowd, for they all regard John as a prophet.

27So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” He also said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

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