In the morning Jesus, being very hungry, started out to return to the
city. On His way He saw a fig tree. As He came to it He found nothing
on it but leaves. He said, Let no fruit ever grow on thee. The fig tree
withered away.
When the disciples saw this, they marvelled and said, How quickly the
fig tree withered away! Jesus answered, If ye have faith, and doubt
not, ye shall not only do this that was done to the fig tree, but also,
if ye shall say to this mountain, Be thou removed and cast into the
sea; it shall be done. The things ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye
shall receive.
Then He went into the temple. The chief priests and the elders of the
people came to Him as He was teaching and asked, By what authority do
you do these things? Who gave thee this authority?
Jesus replied, I, in turn, will ask you one thing, which, if ye can
tell me, I will tell you by what authority I do these things. Did the
baptism of John come from heaven or from man?
They reasoned among themselves and said, If we say, From heaven; He
will ask us, Why did ye not then believe him? But if we say, From man;
we fear the people for they hold John as a prophet.
Finally they said to Jesus, We cannot tell. Jesus responded, Neither,
then, do I tell you by what authority I do these things.
Hear this. A man had two sons. He came to the first and said, Son,
today go to work in my vineyard. The son answered, I will not. But,
afterward he repented and went to work. Then the man went to the second
son and said the same thing. The second son said, I will go, sir; but
he did not go. Which of these two did the will of his father? They
answered, The first son.
Jesus said, Verily I say, The publicans and the harlots enter the
kingdom of God before you. John came to you in the way of righteousness
and ye believed him not. But the publicans and the harlots believed
him. And ye, even after ye had seen, did not repent that ye believed
him.
Hear another parable: There was a householder who planted a vineyard.
He hedged it all around, dug a winepress in it, and built a tower. Then
he rented it out to husbandsmen and went abroad. When the time of the
harvest drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandsmen to receive
the fruits of it. The husbandsmen took his servants, beat one, stoned
one, and killed another. Next, he sent more servants than the first
time. They did to them the same thing. Finally, he sent his son,
saying, They will respect my son. But when the husbandsmen saw the son,
they said, This is the heir. Let us kill him and seize his inheritance.
So they caught him, cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him. When,
therefore, the lord of the vineyard comes, what will he do to these
husbandsmen?
They said to Jesus, He will destroy these miserable and wicked men and
he will rent out his vineyard to others who will render him the fruits
in their seasons.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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