Mark 11:27–12:12

The Question about Jesus’ Authority

²⁷They arrived once again in Jerusalem. As Jesus was walking in the Temple, the chief priests, the teachers of the Law, and the elders came to him ²⁸and asked him, “What right have you to do these things? Who gave you this right?”

²⁹Jesus answered them, “I will ask you just one question, and if you give me an answer, I will tell you what right I have to do these things. ³⁰Tell me, where did John’s right to baptize come from: was it from God or from human beings?”

³¹They started to argue among themselves: “What shall we say? If we answer, ‘From God,’ he will say, ‘Why, then, did you not believe John?’ ³²But if we say, ‘From human beings …’ ” (They were afraid of the people, because everyone was convinced that John had been a prophet.) ³³So their answer to Jesus was, “We don’t know.”

Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you, then, by what right I do these things.”

The Parable of the Tenants in the Vineyard

12^*Then Jesus spoke to them in parables: “Once there was a man who planted a vineyard, put a fence round it, dug a hole for the winepress, and built a watchtower. Then he let out the vineyard to tenants and left home on a journey. ²When the time came to gather the grapes, he sent a slave to the tenants to receive from them his share of the harvest. ³The tenants seized the slave, beat him, and sent him back without a thing. ⁴Then the owner sent another slave; the tenants beat him over the head and treated him shamefully. ⁵The owner sent another slave, and they killed him; and they treated many others the same way, beating some and killing others. ⁶The only one left to send was the man’s own dear son. Last of all, then, he sent his son to the tenants. ‘I am sure they will respect my son,’ he said. ⁷But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the owner’s son. Come on, let’s kill him, and his property will be ours!’ ⁸So they seized the son and killed him and threw his body out of the vineyard.

⁹“What, then, will the owner of the vineyard do?” asked Jesus. “He will come and kill those tenants and hand the vineyard over to others. ^10*Surely you have read this scripture:

‘The stone which the builders rejected as worthless

turned out to be the most important of all.

^11*This was done by the Lord;

what a wonderful sight it is!’ ”

The Question about Paying Taxes

¹²The Jewish leaders tried to arrest Jesus, because they knew that he had told this parable against them. But they were afraid of the crowd, so they left him and went away.