₂₃Jesus came back to the Temple; and as he taught, the chief priests and the elders came to him and asked, “What right have you to do these things? Who gave you this right?”

₂₄Jesus answered them, “I will ask you just one question, and if you give me an answer, I will tell you what right I have to do these things. ₂₅Where did John's right to baptize come from: was it from God or from human beings?”

They started to argue among themselves, “What shall we say? If we answer, ‘From God,’ he will say to us, ‘Why, then, did you not believe John?’ ₂₆But if we say, ‘From human beings,’ we are afraid of what the people might do, because they are all convinced that John was a prophet.” ₂₇So they answered Jesus, “We don't know.”

And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you, then, by what right I do these things.

₂₈“Now, what do you think? There was once a man who had two sons. He went to the elder one and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ ₂₉‘I don't want to,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went. ₃₀Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. ‘Yes, sir,’ he answered, but he did not go. ₃₁Which one of the two did what his father wanted?”

“The elder one,” they answered.

So Jesus said to them, “I tell you: the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the Kingdom of God ahead of you. ₃₂For John the Baptist came to you showing you the right path to take, and you would not believe him; but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. Even when you saw this, you did not later change your minds and believe him.