The Parable of the Wicked Tenants (LUK 20:9-18)

[20:9] And he began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard and let it out to tenants and went into another country for a long while.

[20:10] When the time came, he sent a servant to the tenants, so that they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed.

[20:11] And he sent another servant. But they also beat and treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed.

[20:12] And he sent yet a third. This one also they wounded and cast out.

[20:13] Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.’

[20:14] But when the tenants saw him, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Let us kill him, so that the inheritance may be ours.’

[20:15] And they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them?

[20:16] He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others.” When they heard this, they said, “Surely not!”

[20:17] But he looked directly at them and said, “What then is this that is written: “‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone’?

[20:18] Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”