John the Baptist Denies Being the Messiah

¹⁹ Now this was John’s^(A) testimony when the Jewish leaders^[a](B) in Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was.

²² His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders,^(A) who already had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah would be put out^(B) of the synagogue.^(C)