"Paramount"

 "Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me?" (John 8:46 KJV)

  "When Jesus returned to the Temple and began teaching, the leading priests and elders came up to him. They demanded, "By what authority are you doing all these things? Who gave you the right?" "I'll tell you by what authority I do these things if you answer one question," Jesus replied. "Did John's authority to baptize come from heaven or was it merely human?" They talked it over among themselves. "If we say it was from heaven, he will ask us why we didn't believe John. But if we say it was merely human, we'll be mobbed because the people believed John was a prophet." So they finally replied, "We don't know." And Jesus responded, "Then I won't tell you be what authority I do these things."" (Matthew 21:23-27 NLT)

 If it makes any sense to anyone, this is like that famous quote from A Few Good Men, "You Can't handle the truth!" Mainly it comes down to the fact that the Truth is really above their paygrade! Even though these are leaders in the spiritual things of God, they really don't have a clue what it is that God's is doing, right before their very eyes. 

 Worse than that, they are hardening their hearts against any chance of seeing what is taking place, because they have already prejudged who Jesus is and who He is not; just as they prejudged John the Baptist, as he was not authorized or sanctioned by them, the spiritual leaders of the Jews! 

 The first part of Jesus' question has the key to understanding where He is taking them, and why it is important that they should believe what He says. They all very clearly judged Him, repeatedly, for a whole list of things; but none of them had any authority to convict Him, as He was blameless before God! 

 We have only One to answer to for our sins; and if He says that we are not guilty, then we have been set free from our sins: Not Guilty is stamped upon our record! That is the most important part of this whole believe-the-unbelievable relationship with Jesus Christ: We believe the unbelievable, and we are set free! 

 Why do I believe it? Because Jesus said that it is so! It really doesn't get any easier than that! You really cannot feel free until you are set free...

""But what do you think about this? A man with two sons told the older boy, 'Son, go out and work in the vineyard today,' The son answered, 'No, I won't go,' but later he changed his mind and went anyway. Then the father told the other son, 'You go,' and he said, 'Yes, sir, I will.' But he didn't go. "Which of the two obeyed his father?" They replied, "The first." Then Jesus explained his meaning: "I tell you the truth, corrupt tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the Kingdom of God before you do. For John the Baptist came and showed you the right way to live, but you didn't believe him, while tax collectors and prostitutes did. And even when you saw this happening, you refused to believe him and repent of your sins."" (Matthew 21:28-32 NLT)