New Testament in a Year

The Authority of Jesus Challenged

^23 (A)And when He entered the temple, 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 And Jesus answered and said to them, “I will also ask you one ^[a]thing, 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 reasoning 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 crowd; for they all regard John as ^(C)a prophet.” ²⁷ And they answered Jesus and said, “We do not know.” He also said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.

Parable of Two Sons

²⁸ “But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go work today in the ^(D)vineyard.’ ²⁹ And he answered and said, ‘I will not’; but afterward he regretted it and went. ³⁰ And the man came to the second and said the same thing; and he answered and said, ‘I will, sir’; but 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 ^[b]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 regret afterward so as to believe him.

Parable of the Vine-Growers

³³ “Listen to another parable. ^(G)There was a ^[c]landowner who ^(H)planted a ^(I)vineyard and put a ^[d]wall around it and dug a wine press in it, and built a tower, and rented it out to ^[e]vine-growers and ^(J)went on a journey. ³⁴ Now when the ^[f]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, and killed another, and stoned a third. ³⁶ Again he ^(L)sent another group of slaves larger than the first; and they did the same thing 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 us kill him and seize his inheritance.’ ³⁹ And they took him, and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. ⁴⁰ Therefore when the ^[g]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)will rent out the vineyard to other vine-growers who will pay him the proceeds at 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 nation, producing the fruit of it. ⁴⁴ And ^(O)he who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust.”

⁴⁵ And when the chief priests and the Pharisees heard His parables, they understood that He *was speaking about them. ⁴⁶ And although they were seeking to seize Him, they ^(P)feared the crowds, because they were regarding Him to be a ^(Q)prophet.