27. So they told Jesus, “We don’t know the answer.” Jesus said, “Then I will not tell you who gave me the authority to do these things.
28. “Tell me what you think about this: There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first son and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’
29. “The son answered, ‘I will not go.’ But later he decided he should go, and he went.
30. “Then the father went to the other son and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’ He answered, ‘Yes, sir, I will go and work.’ But he did not go.
31. “Which of the two sons obeyed his father?” The Jewish leaders answered, “The first son.” Jesus said to them, “The truth is, you are worse than the tax collectors and the prostitutes. In fact, they will enter God’s kingdom before you enter.
32. John came showing you the right way to live, and you did not believe him. But the tax collectors and prostitutes believed John. You saw that happening, but you would not change. You still refused to believe him.
33. “Listen to this story: There was a man who owned 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 then left on a trip.
34. Later, it was time for the grapes to be picked. So the man sent his servants to the farmers to get his share of the grapes.
35. “But the farmers grabbed the servants and beat one. They killed another one and then stoned to death a third servant.
36. So the man sent some other servants to the farmers. He sent more servants than he sent the first time. But the farmers did the same thing to them that they did the first time.
37. So the man decided to send his son to the farmers. He said, ‘The farmers will respect my son.’
38. “But 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.’
39. So the farmers took the son, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.