“he answered and said.” The original text has the phrase, “answered and said” more than 100 times in the Bible, and it can sometimes be confusing because it is often used when no one asked a question. The phrase is an idiom, but it has a literal overtone behind it. The person who “answered and said” may not have been answering a direct question from someone, but they were answering and addressing the situation that was presenting itself before them. In this case, Jesus was answering the situation caused by the erroneous thoughts of the religious leaders (see commentary on Matt. 11:25).

“reasoning these things.” The basic wording is taken from Mark 2:8.