12
So the man sent a third servant. The farmers wounded him and threw him out.
13
The owner of the vineyard said, 'What will I do now? I will send my son whom I love. Maybe they will respect him.'
14
But when the farmers saw the son, they said to each other, 'This son will inherit the vineyard. If we kill him, it will be ours.'
15
So the farmers threw the son out of the vineyard and killed him. "What will the owner of this vineyard do to them?
16
He will come and kill those farmers and will give the vineyard to other farmers." When the people heard this story, they said, "Let this never happen!"
17
But Jesus looked at them and said, "Then what does this verse mean: 'The stone that the builders rejected became the cornerstone'?
18
Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken, and the person on whom it falls, that person will be crushed!"
19
The teachers of the law and the leading priests wanted to arrest Jesus at once, because they knew the story was about them. But they were afraid of what the people would do.
20
So they watched Jesus and sent some spies who acted as if they were sincere. They wanted to trap Jesus in saying something wrong so they could hand him over to the authority and power of the governor.
21
So the spies asked Jesus, "Teacher, we know that what you say and teach is true. You pay no attention to who people are, and you always teach the truth about God's way.
22
Tell us, is it right for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?"