NARRATOR: When the chief priests and elders of the people asked Jesus by whose authority he was teaching in the temple, he told them parables.
JESUS: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, installed a winepress, and built a watchtower. Then he leased the vineyard to tenant farmers and went to another country. When harvest time came, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his share of the grapes. The tenants seized the servants, beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. The landowner sent other servants, more than before. The tenants treated them the same way. Finally the landowner sent his son to them.
LANDOWNER: They will respect my son.
JESUS: But when they saw the son, the tenants said to one another —
TENANTS: Here is the heir. Let us kill him; then we will have his inheritance!
JESUS: With that the tenants seized the son, dragged him outside the vineyard, and killed him. What do you suppose the owner of the vineyard will do to those tenants when he comes?
CHIEF PRIESTS: He will put that crowd to a miserable death.
LEADERS: And lease his vineyard out to others who will see to it that he has grapes at harvest time.
JESUS: Did you never read in the Scriptures: “The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This was the Lord’s doing. It is amazing in our eyes?” For this reason, I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will yield a rich harvest.
Matthew 21:33-43