Mark 11:27-33
The religious types (priests, pharisees, etc) are increasingly annoyed at Jesus and their question is loaded with pride and arrogance. When they ask Jesus what authority he has, it's more of a complaint than a question. They're not interested in the truth. They just want him to stop what he's doing and go away.
Jesus handles them with a question that cuts right through to the real issue. By asking them about what authority John the baptist had, he exposes their fear of losing their own perceived authority over the people. Notice how the truth has nothing to do with their consideration of how to answer. Their religious pride comes first. They don't want to be embarrassed or exposed.
The challenge from Jesus is this: 'Get real with me and I'll get real with you.' If we bring our true selves to Jesus, with all our mess and embarrassing failure and insecurities, maybe then we'll be able to discover the truth about him. But if we hang on to our pride and hypocrisy, we'll walk away like these guys did - disappointed.
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