THE CHALLENGE OF CHRIST’S AUTHORITY.

And they came again to Jerusalem.  And all the people came early in the morning to him in the temple to hear him.  And as he was teaching the people in the temple, and preaching the gospel, there came upon him the chief priests and the scribes with the elders; and they spake, saying unto him, “Tell us:  By what authority doest thou these things? or who is he that gave thee this authority?”

And Jesus answered, and said unto them, “I also will ask you one question, which if ye tell me, I likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things.  The baptism of John, whence was it? from heaven or from men?”

And they reasoned with themselves, saying, “If we shall say, ’From heaven’; he will say unto us, ‘Why did ye not believe him?’ But if we shall say, ‘From men’; all the people will stone us:  for they are persuaded that John was a prophet.”

And they answered Jesus, and said, “We know not.”

And Jesus said unto them, “Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things.”

THREE WARNING PARABLES.

THE TWO SONS.

“But what think ye?  A man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, ‘Son, go work to-day in the vineyard.’  And he answered and said, ‘I will not’:  but afterward he repented himself, and went.  And he came to the second, and said likewise.  And he answered and said, ’I go, sir’:  and went not.  Which of the two did the will of his father?”

They say, “The first.”

Jesus saith unto them, “Verily I say unto you, that the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you.  For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not; but the publicans and the harlots believed him:  and ye, when ye saw it, did not even repent yourselves afterward that ye might believe him.”

THE WICKED HUSBANDMEN.

“Hear another parable:  There was a man who was a householder, who planted a vineyard, and set a hedge about it, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into another country.  And when the season of the fruits drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, to receive his fruits.  And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another.  Again, he sent other servants more than the first:  and they did unto them in like manner.  But afterward he sent unto them his son, saying, ‘They will reverence my son.’  But the husbandmen, when they saw the son, said among themselves, ’This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and take his inheritance.’  And they took him, and cast him forth out of the vineyard, and killed him.  When therefore the lord of the vineyard shall come, what will he do unto those husbandmen?”