When he had come into the temple area, the chief priests and the elders of the people approached him as he was teaching and said, "By what authority are you doing these things? And who gave you this authority?" Jesus said to them in reply, "I shall ask you one question, and if you answer it for me, then I shall tell you by what authority I do these things. Where was John's baptism from? Was it of heavenly or of human origin?" They discussed this among themselves and said, "If we say 'Of heavenly origin,' he will say to us, 'Then why did you not believe him?' But if we say, 'Of human origin,' we fear the crowd, for they all regard John as a prophet." So they said to Jesus in reply, "We do not know." He himself said to them, "Neither shall I tell you by what authority I do these things. (Mt 21:23-27)
The chief priests and the elders are in the temple area. It is their area of authority. It is where they exercise their authority and hence from the place of their authority they question about his authority. For, to exercise authority he should either belong to priests group or to the elders. They see the authority as something belonging to a place or to a group of people. Authority, according to them, has to be given from a group or from a place (Who gave you this authority?)
Jesus takes the example John the Baptist and argues with them saying that he never belonged to any of their group of authority or he never exercised his authority from any particular place of authority. The authority of John the Baptist was of divine origin. But the elders and the chief priests were afraid to accept it openly. If they openly acknowledge it then they were wrong in persecuting him.
Authority belongs to God and not to any place or group of persons. It is God who shares this authority with the people and creation. If there is God in place then that place becomes a place of authority and so also for the person or group of persons. Authority is from God.
