read
in the scriptures,

The stone which the builders rejected,
The same was made the head of the corner;
This was from the Lord,

And it is marvellous in our eyes? Therefore say I unto you, The
kingdom of God shall be taken away from you, and shall be given to
a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. And he that falleth on
this stone shall be broken to pieces: but on whomsoever it shall
fall, it will scatter him as dust. And when the chief priests and
the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of
them. And when they sought to lay hold on him, they feared the
multitudes, because they took him for a prophet.--Matt. 21:33-46.

A delegation of the chief priests, lawyers, and elders challenged the
authority of Jesus to act as he did. He replied by challenging their
authority to act as they did. The vineyard parable sums up his view of the
moral history of the governing class in his nation. It was like a group of
men who had rented a vineyard on shares, but took advantage of the owner's
absence to embezzle his share, insolently to beat up his representatives,
and to put themselves in possession of the farm. Every demand of God for
righteousness in the history of Israel had been resisted by those in
power. What title, then, did they have to the rights they claimed? Unless
they fulfilled the function of true leaders, why should they not be put
out of power and brought to justice? In this passage, then, we have a
characterization of leaders who take the profits and honors of leadership,
without performing its higher duties to God and humanity.

Is there any connection between this challenge of Jesus, and the
functional theories of society and the evolutionary conception of history?

Fifth Day: An Indictment of a Governing Class

Then spake Jesus to the multitudes and to his disciples, saying,
The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat, all things
therefore whatsoever they bid you, these do and observe: but do
not ye after their works; for they say, and do not. Yea, they bind
heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's
shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with their
finger. But all their works they do to be seen of men: for they
make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their
garments, and love the chief place at feasts, and the chief seats
in the synag