"I'll answer your question if you answer a question of mine. When John the Baptist used to preach to you and baptize people, who gave him the right to do that?"
Then the rulers did not know what to say. They thought to themselves:
Now if we say that John was sent by God to preach, he will say, "Why didn't you listen to him, then?"
If we say that John didn't have any right to preach, the people will be angry and will likely kill us; for everyone still thinks that John the Baptist was a great prophet sent by God himself.
So all they said was, "We don't know—we can't tell."
"Very well," Jesus retorted, "neither am I going to tell you what right I have to do these things!"
Every day that week, Jesus came and taught in the Temple. Several times his enemies tried to trick him into saying something that would turn the people against him, but Jesus always had an answer which silenced them. Once they came and asked, "Should we pay taxes to the Romans?"
That was a hard question. All the Jews hated the Romans, and if Jesus said that it was their duty to pay the taxes, everybody would hate him too. But if he said they should not pay the taxes—well, they could count on the Roman governor to settle with Jesus then.
"Show me a penny," Jesus replied.
