Luke 20:7-21

⁷So they replied, “We (exc) do not know where John got his authority.”

⁸Then Jesus said to them, “ Because you did not answer my question, I will not tell you who authorized me to do those things here yesterday.”

⁹Then Jesus told the people this parable to illustrate what God would do to the Jews who rejected the former prophets and himself: “A certain man planted a vineyard. He rented the vineyard to some men to care for it and to give him some of the grapes in return. Then he went to another country and stayed there several years.

¹⁰When the vines started producing grapes, he sent a servant to the men who were taking care of the vineyard. He expected that they would give him some of the grapes that the vineyard had produced. But after the servant arrived, they beat him and they did not give him any grapes. They just sent him away.

¹¹Later, the owner sent another servant. But they beat him and mistreated him also. They sent him away without giving him any grapes.

¹²Still later, the owner sent another servant. That one they wounded and threw him out of the vineyard.

¹³So the owner of the vineyard thought to himself, ‘◄I do not know what to do!/What shall I do?► RHQ’ Then he had an idea. He thought to himself, ‘I will send my son, whom I love very much. Perhaps they will respect him and give him my share of the grapes.’

¹⁴So he sent his son, but when the men who were caring for the vineyard saw him coming, they said to each other, ‘Here comes the man who will some day inherit the vineyard. Let's kill him so that this vineyard will be ours!’

¹⁵So they dragged him outside the vineyard and they killed him. So ◄I will tell you what the owner of the vineyard will do to them!/do you know what the owner of the vineyard will do to them?► RHQ

¹⁶He will come and kill those men who were taking care of the vineyard. Then he will arrange for other people to take care of it.” When the people listening to Jesus heard that, they said, “ We would not do anything like those wicked men did!”

¹⁷But Jesus looked directly at them and said, “You can say that, but think about the meaning of these words that are written {which a prophet wrote} RHQ in the Scriptures, The men who were building a house rejected a certain stone. But others put that same stone in its proper place, and it has become the most important stone in the building MET.

¹⁸That stone represents me, the Messiah, and those who reject me are like people who fall on this stone. Everyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces {This stone will break to pieces everyone who falls on it}, and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.”

¹⁹The chief priests and the men who taught the Jewish laws realized that he was accusing them when he told the parable about what those wicked men did. So they immediately tried to find a way to seize MTY him, but they did not seize him, because they were afraid of what the people there would do if they did that.

²⁰So they watched him carefully. They also hired ◄spies/secret agents► who pretended to be sincere. But they really wanted to get him to say something for which they could accuse him. They wanted to be able to turn him over to the authority of the governor of the province. But they also knew that the Jews were disgusted with having to pay taxes to the government.

²¹So one of them asked Jesus, “Teacher, we (exc) know that you (sg) speak and teach what is right. You tell the truth even if important people do not like it. You teach truthfully what God wants us to do.