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.
13. The owner of the vineyard said, ‘What will I do now? I will send my son whom I love very much. Maybe they will respect him!’
14. When they saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the owner’s son. This vineyard will be his. If we kill him, then it will be ours!’
15. So the farmers threw the son out of the vineyard and killed him.“What will the owner of this vineyard do?
16. He will come and kill those farmers! Then he will give the vineyard to other farmers.”The people heard this story. They said, “No! Let this never happen!”