‘And they spoke, saying to him, “Tell us, by what authority do you do these things? or who is he who gave you this authority?” '
Their question, as an official deputation from the leadership, was twofold. Firstly on what did He base His authority for His actions, and secondly, who had given Him that authority? Did He, for example, claim Rabbinic authority, or Prophetic authority, or what? And if any of these, who had so authorised Him? To them ‘authorisation' by the right people was all. Unless a man was authorised he had no right to speak. What authorisation then had Jesus?
The approach was high handed and officious. ‘By what authority -- who gave you this authority?' Their first hope was that He would have no answer and be caught unprepared. Then the people would see that He was a charlatan. Alternately they were hoping to make Him declare Himself, and say something ‘foolish', such as making a claim to Messiahship, and whatever He said they would use against Him. They could accuse Him of self-exaltation, or even worse, of being a Messianic claimant and an insurrectionist. So the question was, was He claiming to be a prophet? Was He claiming to be the Messiah? Was He claiming to be the coming Elijah? And if He was not claiming to be anyone so important, how could He then claim to have God's personal authority? Compare Luke 9:7-8; Mark 6:15; John 1:19-25.