New Testament in a Year

Verbal Clashes^[a]

Chapter 20

The Authority of Jesus Questioned.^{[b] 1} One day as Jesus was teaching in the temple and proclaiming the good news, the chief priests and scribes, accompanied by the elders, approached and ² said to him, “Tell us by what authority you are doing these things. Or who is it that gave you this authority?” ³ He said to them in reply, “I will also ask you one question. Tell me: ⁴ Did John’s baptism originate from heaven or from men?”

⁵ The question caused them to discuss it among themselves, saying, “If we say: ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why did you not believe him?’ ⁶ But if we say: ‘From men,’ all the people will stone us, for they are convinced that John was a prophet.”

⁷ Therefore, they answered that they did not know where it came from. ⁸ And Jesus said to them, “Then neither shall I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

The Parable of the Tenants.^{[c] 9} Then Jesus began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard, leased it to tenants, and went off on a journey for a long period.

¹⁰ “When the time arrived, he sent a servant to the tenants to receive his share of the produce of the vineyard. But the tenants beat the servant and sent him away empty-handed. ¹¹ Again, he sent another servant, but him they also beat and treated shamefully and sent away empty-handed. ¹² Then he sent a third servant, but him too they wounded and cast out.

¹³ “Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son. Perhaps they will respect him.’ ¹⁴ But when the tenants saw him, they said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Let us kill him so that the inheritance will be ours.’ ¹⁵ And so they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

“What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? ¹⁶ He will come and put those tenants to death and give the vineyard to others.”

When the people heard this, they said, “God forbid!” ¹⁷ But Jesus looked directly at them and said, “Then what is the meaning of that which is written:

¹⁸ Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken into pieces, and the one on whom it falls will be crushed.”

¹⁹ The scribes and the chief priests realized that this parable was directed at them, and they wanted to seize him at that very hour, but they feared the people.

²⁰ God or Caesar.^[d] So they watched him closely and sent spies who pretended to be honorable men. They intended to trap Jesus in something he might say so that they could hand him over to the authority and jurisdiction of the governor. ²¹ They posed this question to him: “Teacher, we know that you say and teach what is right. Moreover, you show no partiality to anyone but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. ²² Is it lawful or not for us to pay taxes to Caesar?”

²³ Jesus saw through their duplicity and said to them, ²⁴ “Show me a coin.^[e] Whose image is this, and whose inscription?” They replied, “Caesar’s.” ²⁵ He said to them, “Give to Caesar what is due to Caesar, and to God what is due to God.” ²⁶ They found they could not trap him by anything he said in the presence of the people, and, stunned at his reply, they fell silent.