In an uncontested passage (since it even appears in the dubious yet skeptically celebrated Gospel of Thomas) in the New Testament, we find a parable being stated by Jesus himself attested by the Synoptics. Mark 12:1-11 recounts the parable:  

He then began to speak to them in parables: "A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a pit for the winepress and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and went away on a journey. At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants to collect from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. But they seized him, beat him and sent him away empty-handed. Then he sent another servant to them; they struck this man on the head and treated him shamefully. He sent still another, and that one they killed. He sent many others; some of them they beat, others they killed.

"He had one left to send, a son, whom he loved. He sent him last of all, saying, `They will respect my son.'

"But the tenants said to one another, `This is the heir. Come, let's kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.' So they took him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard.

"What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others. Haven't you read this scripture:

"`The stone the builders rejected
has become the capstone;
the Lord has done this,
and it is marvelous in our eyes"

What is significant in this parable is that Jesus compares himself to the "son" who is killed by the wicked tenants -- it is not so much that he is killed but, more interestingly, that Jesus is the unique son of the Father who is distinct from the other tenants (the Jewish religious leaders) and privileged of the owner's servants (God's prophets). In fact, he is the heir of the estate (Israel). In effect, Jesus is higher than the other prophets, the special and unique Son of the Father, and the rightful heir to Israel. This special relationship and self-understanding of Jesus is copulated by Matthew 27:11, "All things have been delivered to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him." This is likely historical because no Christian zealot-copyist inventing a Christology would have included "no one knows the Son except the Father" since early Christianity seemed to make clear that Christ certainly could be known. And in the hierarchical scheme of things, Jesus is placed higher than the angelic beings (Mark 13:32 -- This passage includes the "embarrassing" statement that the Son does not know "that day or that hour" of his own return; another unlikely feature of a Christian zealot-copyist). It is difficult to exit the New Testament, especially the Gospel of John, without a Christology that includes a divine identity for Jesus.