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?

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.