Jesus replied, I will ask you one question. Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things — the counter-question is the standard rabbinic debate technique: Jesus does not refuse to answer but makes the answer conditional on the questioners' response to a question he will pose. The exchange of question for question is not evasion but a demonstration of the authority question's answer — the authority that can answer the Sanhedrin's question with a question of its own has a higher authority.

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

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