God Sends His Son
33 “Listen to this story: There was a man who owned a vineyard. He put a wall around the field and dug a hole for a winepress. Then he built a tower. He leased the land to some farmers and then left on a trip.
34 Later, 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 stoned to death a third servant.
36 So the man sent some other servants to the farmers. He sent more servants than he sent the first time. But the farmers did the same thing to them that they did the first time.
37 So the man decided to send his son to the farmers. He 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 vineyard will be his. If we kill him, it will be ours.’
39 So the farmers took the son, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.
40 “So what will the owner of the vineyard do to these farmers when he comes?”
41 The Jewish priests and leaders said, “He will surely kill those evil men. Then he will lease the land to other farmers, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.”
42 Jesus said to them, “Surely you have read this in the Scriptures:
‘The stone that the builders refused to accept
became the cornerstone.
The Lord did this,
and it is wonderful to us.’
43 “So I tell you that God’s kingdom will be taken away from you. It will be given to people who do what God wants in his kingdom.
44 Whoever falls on this stone will be broken. And it will crush anyone it falls on.”[a]
45 When the leading priests and the Pharisees heard these stories, they knew that Jesus was talking about them.