Then Jesus said to the twelve, Have faith in God,
and don’t doubt, and you’ll not only do what you’ve seen done to the
fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, Be removed and be cast
into the sea, it will be done. In all things, whatever you ask in
prayer, believing, you will receive. And when you stand
praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so your Father
in Heaven may forgive you for your sins. But if you don’t forgive,
your Father won’t forgive you.
They went again into the temple in Jerusalem and as
Jesus was teaching and preaching the Gospel, the chief priests,
scribes and elders said to Him, Tell us, by what authority do you do
these things, and who gave you this authority? Jesus answered, I’ll
also ask you one thing, and if you tell me, I’ll likewise tell you by
what authority I do these things. Then Jesus asked them, Where did the
baptism of John come from? Was it from Heaven or of men?
They reasoned among themselves saying, If we answer,
From Heaven; He’ll ask, Why then, didn’t you believe the things John
said? But if we say, Of men; all the people will stone us because
they’re persuaded that John was a prophet. So they answered that they
couldn’t tell where it was from. Jesus wisely replied to them, Neither
will I tell you by what authority I do these things.
After that, Jesus told them this parable. A certain
man had two sons; and he said to the first, Son, go work today in my
vineyard. The son answered, I will not, but afterward he regretted it
and did work. The man said the same to the second son and the son
answered, I’m going, sir, but he didn’t go. Which of the two did the
will of his father? They answered, The first. Jesus said then, Truly I
say to you that the publicans and the harlots go into the Kingdom of
God before you. Because John came to you in righteousness, and you
didn’t believe him, but the publicans and the harlots believed him.
And you, when you had seen it, didn’t regret afterward or change your
mind.
Listen to another parable, Jesus said. There was a
certain householder that planted a vineyard. He hedged around it and
dug a place for a winepress, built a tower, and paid farmers to tend
it. Then the householder went into a far country. When the harvest
time drew close, he sent his servants to the farmers to collect the
fruits of the vineyard.
The farmers took his servants, and beat one, killed
another and stoned yet another. Again the householder sent servants,
more than the first time and the farmers did the same thing again. But
last of all, the householder sent his son to them, thinking, They’ll
respect my son. But when the farmers saw the son, they said to
themselves, This is the heir. Come on, let’s kill him, and then steal
his inheritance. And they caught him and threw him out of the vineyard
and killed him. When the lord of the vineyard comes, what’ll he do to
those farmers?
They answered, He’ll miserably destroy those wicked
men and pay other farmers to tend the vineyard, who will give him the
fruits in their seasons. Jesus said to them, Haven’t you ever read in
the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected has become the
cornerstone. This is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our
eyes? (Psalm
118:22-23 &
Isaiah 28:16). So I say to you, The kingdom of God
will be taken from you and given to a people bringing forth the fruits
of it. And whoever will fall on this stone will be broken, but on
whoever the stone falls, it’ll grind him to powder.
Let’s look at this closely and assign who’s who in
this parable. The householder is God. The farmers are those who have
the opportunity to work for Him, but instead they work against Him.
The servants are the prophets. The son is Jesus, and the inheritance
is His kingdom. The stone which became the cornerstone is also Jesus.
When the chief priests and Pharisees heard Jesus’
parables, they understood that He was talking about them being the
farmers. But when they wanted to arrest Him, they were afraid of the
people, because the people believed Jesus was a prophet, so they left
and went on their way.
