‘The officers therefore came to the Chief Priests and Pharisees, and they said to them, “Why did you not bring him?”. The officers answered, “Never did man speak in such a way”.'
The officials returned to the people who had sent them and informed them of what was happening. And when they were asked why they had not arrested Him they replied, ‘No man ever spoke like this man' (v. 46). They had been impressed by the words of Jesus, and they had also been impressed by the impact the words had made on the crowds. That they were partly thinking of the support Jesus had from the crowds as a result of such speaking comes out in the reply of the authorities. The officials were mixed in their feelings, but they had been sufficiently aware of the situation not to act prematurely.