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Parable #38 ~ Matthew 21:28-32 ~ The Two Sons ~
“What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first
and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’
“ ‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.
“Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered,
‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go.
“Which of the two did what his father wanted?”
“The first,” they answered.
Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes
will enter the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you to show you
the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and
the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe
him.
Parable #39 ~ Matthew 21:33-44 ~ Wicked Vineyard Tenants ~
“Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard.
He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he
rented the vineyard to some farmers and went away on a journey. When the
harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit.
“The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a
third. Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the
tenants treated them the same way. Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They
will respect my son,’ he said.
“But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir.
Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’ So they took him and threw him
out of the vineyard and killed him.
“Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those
tenants?”
“He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,” they replied, “and he will
rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at
harvest time.”
Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:
“ ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone;
the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?
“Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you
and given to a people who will produce its fruit. He who falls on this stone will
be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed.”
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