We imagine that Jesus was constantly trying to build up the Kingdom of God, spreading the Good News whenever and wherever He could. We try to replicate that, looking for every opportunity to evangelize. While that is a laudable objective, today's Gospel (Mt 21: 23-27) shows us that sometimes the right thing to do is nothing. Sometimes we're better off not engaging with someone who is simply looking to pick a fight. In today's reading Jesus is teaching in the Temple, and He had just engaged in cleansing the Temple on the prior day (at least in Matthew's rendering of the narrative). When the Jewish leaders confront Him and want to know "by what authority" Jesus is doing "these things," they undoubtedly are thinking not just about the teaching. They also have in mind the big scene Jesus had created the day before when He drove the merchants and money lenders out of the Temple. Do they really want to hear Jesus' justification for what He has done? Is there anything Jesus could say that would satisfy their anger and their conviction that His actions could not be tolerated? Probably not. They're probably just looking to pick a fight, and they are prepared to attack anything He will say. So Jesus puts a question to them, just to make sure He's reading the situation correctly. He asks them where John's baptism came from. He knows the answer-- that it came from God's authority in that John was the one to prepare the way for Jesus-- and it is that same authority that Jesus would use to justify what He has been doing. But He knows they won't acknowledge that John's baptism was from God, just as they won't acknowledge that Jesus is doing God's works. Nor do they have the courage to face the crowd and say John's baptism was merely human, even though that is what they believe. So they decline to answer Jesus' question, confirming that their objective isn't to have an honest exchange of ideas or to listen to Jesus' explanation, but only to start a fight. Seeing that, Jesus walks away from the fight. As Jesus' followers we are sometimes put into a similar situation where people ask us questions not to hear the answer, but merely to get a heated discussion going. When that happens, we might remember Jesus' example-- assess the situation and test whether what we sense is right and, if it is, just walk away. We won't persuade anyone with raised voices or anger. We'll simply reinforce the preconceived idea that our faith is a bit irrational. Sure, Jesus wants us to be evangelists. But He also wants us to be prudent, successful evangelists. By rising to the bait of those who are "controversialists," we're being anything but that.