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11:27-12:12 They came again to Jerusalem. He was walking in the temple and the chief priests and the scribes and
elders came to him. They said to him. “By what authority do you do these
things? Who gave you the
authority to enable you to do them?”
Jesus said to them. “I will
ask you one question and if you answer me I will tell you by what
authority I do these things. The
baptism of John. Was it of heaven
or was it of men? Answer me.” And they debated with themselves
saying. “If we say of heaven he
will say Then why did you not believe him? But can we say “of men”? They feared the crowd for everyone held
that John really was a prophet.
And answering Jesus they said.
“We do not know.” And Jesus
said to them. “Neither will I tell
you by what authority I do these things.”
And he began to speak to them in parables. "A man planted a
vineyard and put a hedge around it and dug a wine press and built a
tower. And he let it out to
husbandmen and went away. And he
sent a slave to those where were the husbandmen at the time so that he
might receive the fruits of the vineyard from them. And taking him (the
slave) they beat him and sent him away empty-handed. And again he (the owner) sent another
slave to them. And that one they
wounded in the head and insulted him.
And he sent another. That
one they killed. He sent many
others. Some they beat and others
they killed. He still had a loved
son. At last he sent him to them
saying. “They will reverence my
son.” But those husbandmen said to themselves. "This is the heir. Come let us kill him and the
inheritance will be ours.” And
taking him they killed him and cast him outside of the vineyard. What will the lord of the vineyard
do? He will come and destroy the
husbandmen and will give the vineyard to others. Does not the scripture say this. Read it. "A stone which is rejected by the
ones building, this stone became the main head stone. This was from the Lord and it is marvellous to see." They tried to seize him yet feared the
crowd for they knew that the parable was addressed to them. So leaving him they went away.
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15:1-15
Very early in the morning a council meeting was called
consisting of the chief priests,
the elders and scribes and all the council members. Jesus had been bound and led away and
delivered to Pilate. Pilate questioned him. “Are you the king of the Jews?” Answering him He said “You said it.” And the chief priests accused him of
many things. But Pilate questioned
him again saying. “Do you not have
anything to answer? Look at how
many things they accuse you of.”
But Jesus answered nothing so that Pilate marvelled. Now at a feast time he used to release
to them one prisoner that they requested.
There was a prisoner named Barabbas who,
with other rebels had been caught after committing murder in the
rebellion. The crowd was going up
(to the Praetorium) to ask for a prisoner as he
(Pilate) had a custom of releasing a prisoner for them. But Pilate answered them saying. “Do you want me to release to you the
king of the Jews?” He knew that it
was because of envy that the chief priests had delivered him. But the chief priests stirred up the
crowd so that they would ask that he should release Barabbas to them
instead. So Pilate answered them
again. “What do you want me to do with
the one you call the king of the Jews?”
They again cried out.
“Crucify him.” But Pilate
said to them. “Indeed what evil
has he done?” And they cried out all the more. “Crucify him.” And Pilate, resolving to satisfy the
crowd released Barabbas to them.
And after having had Jesus scourged he delivered him to be
crucified.
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