Luke 20:1-19

1One day as Jesus was teaching the people and preaching the Good News in the Temple, the leading priests, the teachers of religious law, and the elders came up to him.

2They demanded, “By what authority are you doing all these things? Who gave you the right?”

3“Let me ask you a question first,” he replied.

4“Did John’s authority to baptize come from heaven, or was it merely human?”

5They talked it over among themselves. “If we say it was from heaven, he will ask why we didn’t believe John.

6But if we say it was merely human, the people will stone us because they are convinced John was a prophet.”

7So they finally replied that they didn’t know.

8And Jesus responded, “Then I won’t tell you by what authority I do these things.”

9Now Jesus turned to the people again and told them this story: “A man planted a vineyard, leased it to tenant farmers, and moved to another country to live for several years.

10At the time of the grape harvest, he sent one of his servants to collect his share of the crop. But the farmers attacked the servant, beat him up, and sent him back empty-handed.

11So the owner sent another servant, but they also insulted him, beat him up, and sent him away empty-handed.

12A third man was sent, and they wounded him and chased him away.

13“‘What will I do?’ the owner asked himself. ‘I know! I’ll send my cherished son. Surely they will respect him.’

14“But when the tenant farmers saw his son, they said to each other, ‘Here comes the heir to this estate. Let’s kill him and get the estate for ourselves!’

15So they dragged him out of the vineyard and murdered him. “What do you suppose the owner of the vineyard will do to them?” Jesus asked.

16“I’ll tell you—he will come and kill those farmers and lease the vineyard to others.” “How terrible that such a thing should ever happen,” his listeners protested.

17Jesus looked at them and said, “Then what does this Scripture mean? ‘The stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.’

18Everyone who stumbles over that stone will be broken to pieces, and it will crush anyone it falls on.”

19The teachers of religious law and the leading priests wanted to arrest Jesus immediately because they realized he was telling the story against them—they were the wicked farmers. But they were afraid of the people’s reaction.