1. One day Jesus was in the Temple, teaching the people and telling them the Good News. The leading priests, teachers of the law, and Jewish elders came up to talk with him.
2. They said, “Tell us! What authority do you have to do these things? Who gave you this authority?”
3. Jesus answered, “I will ask you a question too. Tell me:
4. When John baptized people, did that come from God or from man?”
5. The priests, the teachers of the law, and the Jewish leaders all talked about this. They said to each other, “If we answer, ‘John’s baptism was from God,’ then Jesus will say, ‘Then why did you not believe John?’
6. But if we say, ‘John’s baptism was from man,’ then all the people will kill us with stones because they believe that John was a prophet.”
7. So they answered, “We don’t know the answer.”
8. So Jesus said to them, “Then I will not tell you by what authority I do these things!”
9. Then Jesus told the people this story: “A man planted a vineyard. The man 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 to get his share of the grapes. But they beat the servant and sent him away with nothing.
11. Then he sent another servant. They beat this servant too. They showed no respect for him and sent him away with nothing.
12. So the man sent a third servant. The farmers hurt this servant badly and threw him out.