One day as Jesus was teaching the people and preaching the Good News in the Temple, the leading priests, the teachers of religious law, and the elders came up to him. ²They demanded, “By what authority are you doing all these things? Who gave you the right?”

³“Let me ask you a question first,” he replied. ⁴“Did John’s authority to baptize come from heaven, or was it merely human?”

⁵They talked it over among themselves. “If we say it was from heaven, he will ask why we didn’t believe John. ⁶But if we say it was merely human, the people will stone us because they are convinced John was a prophet.” ⁷So they finally replied that they didn’t know.

⁸And Jesus responded, “Then I won’t tell you by what authority I do these things.”

Parable of the Evil Farmers

⁹Now Jesus turned to the people again and told them this story: “A man planted a vineyard, leased it to tenant farmers, and moved to another country to live for several years. ¹⁰At the time of the grape harvest, he sent one of his servants to collect his share of the crop. But the farmers attacked the servant, beat him up, and sent him back empty-handed. ¹¹So the owner sent another servant, but they also insulted him, beat him up, and sent him away empty-handed. ¹²A third man was sent, and they wounded him and chased him away.

¹³“ ‘What will I do?’ the owner asked himself. ‘I know! I’ll send my cherished son. Surely they will respect him.’

¹⁴“But when the tenant farmers saw his son, they said to each other, ‘Here comes the heir to this estate. Let’s kill him and get the estate for ourselves!’ ¹⁵So they dragged him out of the vineyard and murdered him.

“What do you suppose the owner of the vineyard will do to them?” Jesus asked. ¹⁶“I’ll tell you—he will come and kill those farmers and lease the vineyard to others.”

“How terrible that such a thing should ever happen,” his listeners protested.

¹⁷Jesus looked at them and said, “Then what does this Scripture mean?

‘The stone that the builders rejected

has now become the cornerstone.’

¹⁸Everyone who stumbles over that stone will be broken to pieces, and it will crush anyone it falls on.”

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