27And they came again to Jerusalem. And as he was walking in the temple, the chief priests and the scribes and the elders came to him,

28and they said to him, "By what authority are you doing these things, or who gave you this authority to do them?"

29Jesus said to them, "I will ask you one question; answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things.

30Was the baptism of John from heaven or from man? Answer me."

31And they discussed it with one another, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' he will say, 'Why then did you not believe him?'

32But shall we say, 'From man'?"--they were afraid of the people, for they all held that John really was a prophet.

33So they answered Jesus, "We do not know." And Jesus said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things."

1And he began to speak to them in parables. "A man planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a pit for the winepress and built a tower, and leased it to tenants and went into another country.

2When the season came, he sent a servant to the tenants to get from them some of the fruit of the vineyard.

3And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed.

4Again he sent to them another servant, and they struck him on the head and treated him shamefully.

5And he sent another, and him they killed. And so with many others: some they beat, and some they killed.

6He had still one other, a beloved son. Finally he sent him to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.'

7But those tenants said to one another, 'This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.'

8And they took him and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard.

9What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others.

10Have you not read this Scripture: "'The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone;

11this was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes'?"

12And they were seeking to arrest him but feared the people, for they perceived that he had told the parable against them. So they left him and went away.