21. Then Jesus told them, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith and don’t doubt, you can do things like this and much more. You can even say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen.
22. You can pray for anything, and if you have faith, you will receive it.”
23. When Jesus returned to the Temple and began teaching, the leading priests and elders came up to him. They demanded, “By what authority are you doing all these things? Who gave you the right?”
24. “I’ll tell you by what authority I do these things if you answer one question,” Jesus replied.
25. “Did John’s authority to baptize come from heaven, or was it merely human?”They talked it over among themselves. “If we say it was from heaven, he will ask us why we didn’t believe John.
26. But if we say it was merely human, we’ll be mobbed because the people believe John was a prophet.”
27. So they finally replied, “We don’t know.”And Jesus responded, “Then I won’t tell you by what authority I do these things.
28. “But what do you think about this? A man with two sons told the older boy, ‘Son, go out and work in the vineyard today.’
29. The son answered, ‘No, I won’t go,’ but later he changed his mind and went anyway.
30. Then the father told the other son, ‘You go,’ and he said, ‘Yes, sir, I will.’ But he didn’t go.
31. “Which of the two obeyed his father?”They replied, “The first.”Then Jesus explained his meaning: “I tell you the truth, corrupt tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the Kingdom of God before you do.
32. For John the Baptist came and showed you the right way to live, but you didn’t believe him, while tax collectors and prostitutes did. And even when you saw this happening, you refused to believe him and repent of your sins.
33. “Now listen to another story. A certain landowner planted a vineyard, built a wall around it, dug a pit for pressing out the grape juice, and built a lookout tower. Then he leased the vineyard to tenant farmers and moved to another country.
34. At the time of the grape harvest, he sent his servants to collect his share of the crop.
35. But the farmers grabbed his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another.
36. So the landowner sent a larger group of his servants to collect for him, but the results were the same.
37. “Finally, the owner sent his son, thinking, ‘Surely they will respect my son.’