The leaders wanted to know what right Jesus had to act as He did in their temple. Barnes says "these things" means "the things which he had just done, in overturning the seats of those that were engaged in traffic." Gill includes His miracles too, giving sight to the blind and making the lame walk. Barnes notes that Jesus held no office as a priest or ruler among them. Their first question asks what kind of authority He claimed. Their second asks who gave it to Him. Gill observes that they did not argue with His teaching or His miracles; they attacked His commission, hoping to trap Him whatever He answered.

Jesus answered with a question: "I also will ask you one thing, which if ye tell me, I in like wise will tell you by what authority I do these things" (Matthew 21:24). He asked whether John's baptism was "from heaven, or of men" (Matthew 21:25). When they said, "We cannot tell," He replied, "Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things" (Matthew 21:27). Yet He did not leave the matter there. In the parables that follow, the owner of the vineyard sends "his son" last of all (Matthew 21:37), pointing to where His authority came from.

The Greek word for "authority" is exousia. Thayer defines it as "the power of authority (influence) and of right," and also "the power of rule or government." The leaders were asking for credentials: a right to act, given by someone with the power to give it.

The chief priests oversaw the temple, and the "elders of the people" were leaders of the nation. Mark and Luke add that scribes came with them (Mark 11:27; Luke 20:1). Having been teaching in the temple and having cleared out its trade, Jesus was acting on ground they believed was theirs to govern.

The question is a fair one, but the leaders asked it in the wrong spirit. Barnes says Jesus "was under no obligation to give them an answer," because His miracles already showed His authority. Gill says Jesus' question tacitly suggests that He had His authority "not from man, but from God."

God does answer the question, though not in the way the leaders wanted. In the parable of the husbandmen, the owner sends servants and then his son, saying, "They will reverence my son" (Matthew 21:37). Jesus' authority is the authority of the Son sent by the Father; Matthew Henry says the son "comes with more authority than the servants could." The leaders had asked who gave Him authority; the answer was standing in front of them.