Mark 11:27-33; 12:1-17, 35-44

"The baptism of John, now—did it come from Heaven or was it purely human? Tell me that." When the pharisees questioned Jesus' authority to teach and speak, Jesus asks them this question in return; if the pharisees said John's baptism was from heaven, they would be at risk of hypocrisy. However, if they said human, they would be at risk of the crowd who believed John to be a prophet. The questions Jesus posed to the pharisees not only countered their own challenging questions, but it exposed their rejection of both John and the Messiah. Lance speaks on this idea of rejection through these passages in Mark, using other examples such as the question of taxation to further his point.

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