"What do you think of this?" said Jesus. "There was a man who had two sons. He went to the older son, and said to him, 'My son, go and work in the vineyard today.' 'Yes, sir,' said the young man. 'I will go.' But although he had given his promise to go, he broke it, for he did not go.
"Then the father spoke to his second son, as he had spoken to the first. 'My son, go and work today in the vineyard.' This one said to his father, 'I will not go.' But afterward he was sorry, and went into the vineyard to work. Now tell me, which of these two sons did as his father told him to do?"
They answered him, "The second."
"I tell you truly," said Jesus, "that the tax-gatherers and the bad women are going into the kingdom of God instead of you, who believe yourselves to be better than others. For John the Baptist came and showed you how to live, and you would not believe him nor do as he said. But the tax-gatherers and the bad women believed him and turned from their evil ways to God. And even when you saw them turning from evil to good, you would not seek God after them and follow the words of John."
Then Jesus spoke to these rulers another parable, called "The Parable of the Wicked Vine-dressers."
"Listen to another parable," he said. "A man who owned some land planted upon it a vineyard of grape-vines. He put a fence around it, dug a wine-vat inside it, and built a tower in the middle of the vineyard, so that a watchman might be on the lookout against thieves. Then he let it out to vine-dressers, to take care of it, and at the time of ripe grapes to send him his share of the fruit or its worth in money. After leasing the vineyard, he went away to another country.
Vineyard and watch-tower in Bethlehem
"When the time for the vintage drew near, the time for gathering the grapes, he sent his servants for his share of the fruit. But instead of giving him what belonged to him, the vine-dressers seized his servants. One servant they flogged and drove away, another they killed, and a third they stoned. A second time the owner sent some other servants, more than before; and the vine-dressers treated them in the same way. And so it was with many others; some they beat and some they killed.
"The owner of the vineyard had one son, a young man, whom he loved very dearly. Last of all he sent this son to them, saying to himself, 'They will surely respect my son, and will not treat him as they have treated the servants.'