Mark 12:1-12
Easy-to-Read Version
God Sends His Son(A)
12 Jesus used stories to teach the people. He said, “A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around the field and dug a hole for a winepress. Then he built a tower. He leased the land to some farmers and left for a trip.
2 “Later, it was time for the grapes to be picked. So the man sent a servant to the farmers to get his share of the grapes. 3 But the farmers grabbed the servant and beat him. They sent him away with nothing. 4 Then the man sent another servant to the farmers. They hit this servant on the head, showing no respect for him. 5 So the man sent another servant. The farmers killed this servant. The man sent many other servants to the farmers. The farmers beat some of them and killed the others.
6 “The man had only one person left to send to the farmers. It was his son. He loved his son, but he decided to send him. He said, ‘The farmers will respect my son.’
7 “But the farmers said to each other, ‘This is the owner’s son, and this vineyard will be his. If we kill him, it will be ours.’ 8 So they took the son, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.
9 “So what will the man who owns the vineyard do? He will go and kill those farmers. Then he will lease the land to others. 10 Surely you have read this in the Scriptures:
‘The stone that the builders refused to accept
became the cornerstone.
11 The Lord did this,
and it is wonderful to us.’” (B)
12 When these Jewish leaders heard this story, they knew it was about them. They wanted to find a way to arrest Jesus, but they were afraid of what the crowd would do. So they left him and went away.
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Luke 20:9-19
Easy-to-Read Version
God Sends His Son(A)
9 Then Jesus told the people this story: “A man planted a vineyard. He leased the land to some farmers. Then he went away for a long time. 10 Later, it was time for the grapes to be picked. So the man sent a servant to those farmers so that they would give him his share of the grapes. But they beat the servant and sent him away with nothing. 11 So the man sent another servant. They beat this servant too and showed no respect for him. They sent the servant away with nothing. 12 So the man sent a third servant to the farmers. They hurt this servant badly and threw him out.
13 “The owner of the vineyard said, ‘What will I do now? I will send my son. I love my son very much. Maybe the farmers will respect my son.’ 14 When the farmers saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the owner’s son. This vineyard will be his. If we kill him, it will be ours.’ 15 So the farmers threw the son out of the vineyard and killed him.
“What will the owner of the vineyard do? 16 He will come and kill those farmers. Then he will lease the land to some other farmers.”
When the people heard this story, they said, “This should never happen!” 17 But Jesus looked into their eyes and said, “Then what does this verse mean:
‘The stone that the builders refused to accept
became the cornerstone’? (B)
18 Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken. If that stone falls on you, it will crush you!”
19 When the teachers of the law and the leading priests heard this story, they knew it was about them. So they wanted to arrest Jesus right then, but they were afraid of what the people would do.
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