Luke 20:7-21

⁷So they answered, “We don't know where it came from.”

⁸Jesus replied, “Then I won't tell you by whose authority I do what I do.”

⁹Then he began to tell the people a story: “Once there was a man who planted a vineyard, leased it to some farmers, and went to live in another country for a long while.

¹⁰At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenant farmers to collect his share of the crop, but the farmers beat the servant and sent him away with nothing.

¹¹So the owner sent another servant, but they beat him too and treated him shamefully, and sent him away with nothing.

¹²So he sent a third servant, but they wounded him and threw him out.

¹³The owner of the vineyard asked himself, ‘What shall I do? I know, I'll send my son whom I love. Perhaps they will respect him.’

¹⁴But when they saw him coming, the farmers said to themselves, ‘This is the owner's heir. Let's kill him! That way we can take his inheritance.’

¹⁵They threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. Now what will the owner of the vineyard do to them?

¹⁶He will come and kill these farmers and let others have the vineyard.” When they heard the story, they said, “May this never happen!”

¹⁷But Jesus looked at them and said, “Then why is it written in the Scriptures, ‘The stone the builders rejected has now become the chief cornerstone’?

¹⁸Anyone who falls on that stone will be broken in pieces; anyone it falls upon will be crushed.”

¹⁹Immediately the religious teachers and the chief priests wanted to arrest him because they realized that the story Jesus told was aimed at them, but they were afraid of what the people would do.

²⁰Watching for an opportunity they sent spies who pretended to be sincere. They tried to catch Jesus out in something he said so they could hand him over to the power and authority of the governor.

²¹They said, “Teacher, we know that you speak and teach what is good and right, and that you're not swayed by the opinions of others. You truly teach the way of God.