Jesus’ Authority Questioned

27 They * came again to Jerusalem. aAnd as He was walking in the temple, the chief priests and the scribes and the elders * came to Him,

28 and began saying to Him, “By what authority are You doing these things, or who gave You this authority to do these things?”

29 And Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question, and you answer Me, and then I will tell you by what authority I do these things.

30 “Was the baptism of John from heaven, or from men? Answer Me.”

31 They began reasoning among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’

32 “But 1shall we say, ‘From men’?”—they were afraid of the people, for everyone considered John to have been a real prophet.

33 Answering Jesus, they * said, “We do not know.” And Jesus * said to them, “Nor 1will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

Chapter 12

Parable of the Vine-growers

1 aAnd He began to speak to them in parables: “bA man cplanted a vineyard and put a 1wall around it, and dug a vat under the wine press and built a tower, and rented it out to 2vine-growers and went on a journey.

2 “At the harvest time he sent a slave to the vine-growers, in order to receive some of the produce of the vineyard from the vine-growers.

3 “They took him, and beat him and sent him away empty-handed.

4 “Again he sent them another slave, and they wounded him in the head, and treated him shamefully.

5 “And he sent another, and that one they killed; and so with many others, beating some and killing others.

6 “He had one more to send, a beloved son; he sent him last of all to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’

7 “But those vine-growers said to one another, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours!’

8 “They took him, and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard.

9 “What will the 1owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the vine-growers, and will give the vineyard to others.

10 “Have you not even read this Scripture:

‘aThe stone which the builders rejected,

This became the chief corner stone;

11 aThis came about from the Lord,

And it is marvelous in our eyes’?”

12 aAnd they were seeking to seize Him, and yet they feared the 1people, for they understood that He spoke the parable against them. And so bthey left Him and went away.