I love it when Jesus gets snippy

Mark 11:27-33

Again they came to Jerusalem. As he was walking in the temple, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders came to him and said, “By what authority are you doing these things? Who gave you this authority to do them?” Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question; answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin? Answer me.” They argued with one another, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ But shall we say, ‘Of human origin’?” —they were afraid of the crowd, for all regarded John as truly a prophet. So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.”

I just love passages like this when Jesus gets snippy with people who ask him rude questions. As one who seemed to be pretty good at reading people, Jesus senses that the chief priests, chief priests, and elders are coming to him with an attitude of condescension and arrogance, and clearly, Jesus doesn't like it. He rarely has much patience with those who would lord their own positions of authority and importance over other people. Jesus was so postmodern. :)