Jesus and his followers were coming closer to Jerusalem. But first they stopped at Bethphage at the hill called the Mount of Olives. From there Jesus sent two of his followers into town.
"Tell the people of Zion, 'Now your king is coming to you. He is humble and riding on a donkey. He is riding on a young donkey, born from a work animal.'"
Some of the people were walking ahead of Jesus. Others were walking behind him. They all shouted, "Praise to the Son of David! 'Welcome! God bless the one who comes in the name of the Lord!' Praise to God in heaven!"
Jesus went into the Temple area. He threw out all those who were selling and buying things there. He turned over the tables that belonged to those who were exchanging different kinds of money. And he turned over the benches of those who were selling doves.
The leading priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he was doing. And they saw the children praising him in the Temple area. The children were shouting, "Praise to the Son of David. " All this made the priests and the teachers of the law angry.
They asked Jesus, "Do you hear what these children are saying?" He answered, "Yes. The Scriptures say, 'You have taught children and babies to give praise.' Have you not read that Scripture?"
He saw a fig tree beside the road and went to get a fig from it. But there were no figs on the tree. There were only leaves. So Jesus said to the tree, "You will never again produce fruit!" The tree immediately dried up and died.
Jesus answered, "The truth is, if you have faith and no doubts, you will be able to do the same as I did to this tree. And you will be able to do more. You will be able to say to this mountain, 'Go, mountain, fall into the sea.' And if you have faith, it will happen.
Jesus went into the Temple area. While Jesus was teaching there, the leading priests and the older leaders of the people came to him. They said, "Tell us! What authority do you have to do these things you are doing? Who gave you this authority?"
Tell me: When John baptized people, did his authority come from God, or was it only from other people?" The priests and the Jewish leaders talked about Jesus' question. They said to each other, "If we answer, 'John's baptism was from God,' then he will say, 'Then why didn't you believe John?'
"Then the father went to the other son and said, 'Son, go and work today in the vineyard.' He answered, 'Yes, sir, I will go and work.' But he did not go.
"Which of the two sons obeyed his father?" The Jewish leaders answered, "The first son." Jesus said to them, "The truth is, you are worse than the tax collectors and the prostitutes. In fact, they will enter God's kingdom before you enter.
John came showing you the right way to live, and you did not believe him. But the tax collectors and prostitutes believed John. You saw that happening, but you would not change. You still refused to believe him.
"Listen to this story: There was a man who owned a vineyard. He put a wall around the field and dug a hole for a winepress. Then he built a tower. He leased the land to some farmers and then left on a trip.
So the man sent some other servants to the farmers. He sent more servants than he sent the first time. But the farmers did the same thing to them that they did the first time.
The Jewish priests and leaders said, "He will surely kill those evil men. Then he will lease the land to other farmers, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time."
Jesus said to them, "Surely you have read this in the Scriptures: 'The stone that the builders refused to accept became the cornerstone. The Lord did this, and it is wonderful to us.'