Authority Challenged

^23 (A)When He entered the temple area, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to Him ^(B)while He was teaching, and said, “By what authority are You doing these things, and who gave You this authority?” ²⁴ But Jesus responded and said to them, “I will also ask you one ^[a]question, which, if you tell Me, I will also tell you by what authority I do these things. ²⁵ The baptism of John was from what source: from heaven or from men?” And they began considering the implications among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say to us, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’ ²⁶ But if we say, ‘From men,’ we fear the ^[b]people; for they all regard John as ^(C)a prophet.” ²⁷ And answering Jesus, they said, “We do not know.” He also said to them, “Neither am I telling you by what authority I do these things.

Parable of Two Sons

²⁸ “But what do you think? A man had two ^[c]sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘^[d]Son, go work today in the ^(D)vineyard.’ ²⁹ But he replied, ‘I do not want to.’ Yet afterward he regretted it and went. ³⁰ And the man came to his second son and said the same thing; and he replied, ‘I will, sir’; and yet he did not go. ³¹ Which of the two did the will of his father?” They *said, “The first.” Jesus *said to them, “Truly I say to you that ^(E)the tax collectors and prostitutes ^[e]will get into the kingdom of God before you. ³² For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him; but ^(F)the tax collectors and prostitutes did believe him; and you, seeing this, did not even ^[f]have second thoughts afterward so as to believe him.

Parable of the Landowner

³³ “Listen to another parable. ^(G)There was a ^[g]landowner who ^(H)planted a ^(I)vineyard and put a ^[h]fence around it, and dug a wine press in it, and built a tower, and he leased it to ^[i]vine-growers and ^(J)went on a journey. ³⁴ And when the ^[j]harvest time approached, he ^(K)sent his slaves to the vine-growers to receive his fruit. ³⁵ And the vine-growers took his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. ³⁶ Again, he ^(L)sent other slaves, more than the first; and they did the same things to them. ³⁷ But afterward he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ ³⁸ But when the vine-growers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let’s kill him and take possession of his inheritance!’ ³⁹ And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. ⁴⁰ Therefore, when the ^[k]owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine-growers?” ⁴¹ They *said to Him, “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end and ^(M)lease the vineyard to other vine-growers, who will pay him the fruit in the proper seasons.”

⁴² Jesus *said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures,

⁴³ Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a ^[m]people producing its fruit. ⁴⁴ And ^(O)the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and on whomever it falls, it will crush him.”

⁴⁵ When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard His parables, they understood that He was speaking about them. ⁴⁶ And although they sought to arrest Him, they ^(P)feared the crowds, since they considered Him to be a ^(Q)prophet.

Parable of the Marriage Feast

22 Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying, ² “^(R)The kingdom of heaven ^[n]is like ^[o]a king who ^[p]held a ^(S)wedding feast for his son. ³ And he ^(T)sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding feast, and they were unwilling to come. ⁴ Again he ^(U)sent other slaves, saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited, “Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and my fattened cattle are all butchered and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast!”’ ⁵ But they paid no attention and went their separate ways, one to his own ^[q]farm, another to his business, ⁶ and the rest seized his slaves and treated them abusively, and then killed them. ⁷ Now the king was angry, and he sent his armies and destroyed those murderers and set their city on fire. ⁸ Then he *said to his slaves, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. ⁹ So go to ^(V)the main roads, and invite whomever you find there to the wedding feast.’ ¹⁰ Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good; and the wedding hall was filled with ^[r]dinner guests.

¹¹ “But when the king came in to look over the ^[s]dinner guests, he saw ^(W)a man there who was not dressed in wedding clothes, ¹² and he *said to him, ‘^(X)Friend, how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ And the man was speechless. ¹³ Then the king said to the servants, ‘Tie his hands and feet, and throw him into ^(Y)the outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth in that place.’ ¹⁴ For many are ^[t](Z)called, but few are ^(AA)chosen.”

Jesus’ Authority Questioned

²⁷ And they *came again to Jerusalem. ^(A)And as He was walking in the temple area, the chief priests, 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 But 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 And they began considering the implications among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’ ³² But should we say, ‘From men’?”—they were afraid of the ^[a]people, for they all considered John to have been a real prophet. ³³ Answering Jesus, they *said, “We do not know.” And Jesus *said to them, “Neither am I telling you by what authority I do these things.”

Parable of the Vine-growers

12 ^(B)And He began to speak to them in parables: “^(C)A man ^(D)planted a vineyard and put a ^[b]fence around it, and dug a vat under the wine press and built a tower, and leased it to ^[c]vine-growers and went on a journey. ² And at the harvest time he sent a slave to the vine-growers, in order to receive his share of the produce of the vineyard from the vine-growers. ³ And they took him, and beat him, and sent him away empty-handed. ⁴ And 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 man to send, a beloved son; he sent him to them last of all, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ ⁷ But those vine-growers said to one another, ‘This is the heir; come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours!’ ⁸ And they took him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard. ⁹ What will the ^[d]owner of the vineyard do? He will come and put the vine-growers to death, and give the vineyard to others. ¹⁰ Have you not even read this Scripture:

^12 (G)And they were seeking to seize Him, and yet they feared the ^[f]people, for they understood that He told the parable against them. And so ^(H)they left Him and went away.

Jesus’ Authority Questioned

20 ^(A)On one of the days while ^(B)He was teaching the people in the temple and ^(C)preaching the gospel, the chief priests and the scribes with the elders ^(D)confronted Him, ² and they declared, saying to Him, “Tell us by what authority You are doing these things, or who is the one who gave You this authority?” ³ But He replied to them, “I will also ask you a ^[a]question, and you tell Me: ⁴ Was the baptism of John from heaven or from men?” ⁵ They discussed among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say, ‘Why did you not believe him?’ ⁶ But if we say, ‘From men,’ all the people will stone us to death, since they are convinced that John was a ^(E)prophet.” ⁷ And so they answered that they did not know where it came from. ⁸ And Jesus said to them, “Neither am I telling you by what authority I do these things.”

Parable of the Vine-growers

^9 (F)But He began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard and leased it to ^[b]vine-growers, and went on a journey for a long time. ¹⁰ At the harvest time he sent a slave to the vine-growers, so that they would give him his share of the produce of the vineyard; but the vine-growers beat him and sent him away empty-handed. ¹¹ And he proceeded to send another slave; but they beat him also and treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed. ¹² And he proceeded to send a third; but this one too they wounded and threw out. ¹³ Now the ^[c]owner of the vineyard said, ‘What am I to do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will ^(G)respect him.’ ¹⁴ But when the vine-growers saw him, they discussed with one another, saying, ‘This is the heir; let’s kill him so that the inheritance will be ours.’ ¹⁵ And so they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What, then, will the ^[d]owner of the vineyard do to them? ¹⁶ He will come and ^(H)put these vine-growers to death, and will give the vineyard to others.” However, when they heard this, they said, “^(I)May it never happen!” ¹⁷ But ^[e]Jesus looked at them and said, “Then what is this statement that has been written:

^18 (L)Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will crush him.”

Paying Taxes to Caesar

¹⁹ The scribes and the chief priests ^(M)tried to lay hands on Him that very hour, and yet they feared the people; for they were aware that He had spoken this parable against them.