And they answered Jesus and said, “We do not know.” And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”
The chief priests and the leaders of the people, being unable to give a righteous answer to Jesus’ question, choose a formal pretense of ignorance, saying, “We do not know.” But their silence is not sincere ignorance; it is an evasion of the truth. They knew the divine nature of John’s baptism, yet they were afraid to acknowledge it, because that would also require them to recognize Jesus’ authority. And Jesus, seeing their hypocrisy, refuses to answer; divine truth is not revealed to hearts that consciously reject the light. This episode shows that faith is not gained through debate, but through humility. When a person chooses “I do not know” in order not to lose his position, he instead loses hold of the thread of truth.