Jesus Uses a Story About Two Sons

²⁸"Tell me what you think about this: There was a man that had two sons. The man went to the first son and said, 'Son, go and work today in my field of grapes.' ²⁹"The son answered, 'I will not go.' But later the son decided he should go, and the son went. ³⁰"Then the father went to the other son and said, 'Son, go and work today in my field of grapes.' The son answered, 'Yes, sir, I will go and work.' But the son did not go. ³¹"Which of the two sons obeyed his father?" The Jewish leaders answered, "The first son." Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth. [You think] the tax collectors* and the prostitutes* [are bad people. But they] will enter the kingdom of God before you enter. ³²John came showing you the right way to live. And you did not believe John. But the tax collectors and prostitutes believed John. And you saw that the tax collectors and prostitutes believed him. But you still refused to change and believe him.

God Sends His Son (Mk. 12:1-12; Lk. 20:9-19)

³³"Listen to this story: There was a man that owned a field. He planted the field with grapes. He put a wall around the field and dug a hole for a wine press.* Then the man built a tower. He leased the land to some farmers. Then he left for a trip. ³⁴Later, it was time for the grapes to be picked. So the man sent his servants to the farmers to get his share of the grapes. ³⁵"But the farmers grabbed the servants and beat one. They killed another one and then killed a third servant with rocks. ³⁶So the man sent some other servants to the farmers. The man sent more servants than he sent the first time. But the farmers did the same thing to the servants that they did the first time. ³⁷So the man decided to send his son to the farmers. The man said, 'The farmers will respect my son.' ³⁸"But when the farmers saw the son, they said to each other, 'This is the owner's son. This field will be his. If we kill him, then his field will be ours!' ³⁹So the farmers took the son, threw him out of the field, and killed him. ⁴⁰"So what will the owner of the field do to these farmers when he comes?" ⁴¹The Jewish priests and leaders said, "He will surely kill those evil men. Then he will lease the field to some other farmers. He will lease it to farmers that will give him his share of the crop at harvest time." ⁴²Jesus said to them, "Surely you have read this in the Scriptures*: 'The stone that the builders did not want became the cornerstone.* The Lord did this, and it is wonderful to us.' Psalm 118:22-23

⁴³"So I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you. God's kingdom will be given to people that do the things God wants in his kingdom. ⁴⁴The person that falls on this stone will be broken. And if the stone falls on a person, then it will crush that person."* ⁴⁵The leading priests and the Pharisees* heard these stories that Jesus told. They knew that Jesus was talking about them. ⁴⁶They wanted to find a way to arrest Jesus. But they were afraid of the people, because the people believed that Jesus was a prophet.*

tax collector(s) Jews hired by the Romans to collect taxes. They often cheated, and the other Jews hated them. prostitutes Women paid by men for sexual sin. wine press A place dug in rock used to mash grapes and collect the juice for making wine. Scriptures Holy Writings--the Old Testament. cornerstone First and most important rock of a building. Verse 44 Some Greek copies omit verse 44. Pharisees The Pharisees were a Jewish religious group that claimed to follow carefully all Jewish laws and customs. prophet A person that spoke for God.