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When Jesus finished saying these things, he left Galilee and went to the territory of Judea on the other side of the Jordan River.
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Large crowds followed him, and he healed them there.
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Some Pharisees came to him and tried to trap him by asking, "Does our Law allow a man to divorce his wife for whatever reason he wishes?"
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Jesus answered, "Haven't you read the scripture that says that in the beginning the Creator made people male and female?
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And God said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and unite with his wife, and the two will become one.'
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So they are no longer two, but one. No human being must separate, then, what God has joined together."
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The Pharisees asked him, "Why, then, did Moses give the law for a man to hand his wife a divorce notice and send her away?"
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Jesus answered, "Moses gave you permission to divorce your wives because you are so hard to teach. But it was not like that at the time of creation.
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I tell you, then, that any man who divorces his wife for any cause other than her unfaithfulness, commits adultery if he marries some other woman."
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His disciples said to him, "If this is how it is between a man and his wife, it is better not to marry."
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Jesus answered, "This teaching does not apply to everyone, but only to those to whom God has given it.
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For there are different reasons why men cannot marry: some, because they were born that way; others, because men made them that way; and others do not marry for the sake of the Kingdom of heaven. Let him who can accept this teaching do so."
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Some people brought children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and to pray for them, but the disciples scolded the people.
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Jesus said, "Let the children come to me and do not stop them, because the Kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."
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He placed his hands on them and then went away.
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Once a man came to Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, "what good thing must I do to receive eternal life?"
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"Why do you ask me concerning what is good?" answered Jesus. "There is only One who is good. Keep the commandments if you want to enter life."
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"What commandments?" he asked. Jesus answered, "Do not commit murder; do not commit adultery; do not steal; do not accuse anyone falsely;
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respect your father and your mother; and love your neighbor as you love yourself."
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"I have obeyed all these commandments," the young man replied. "What else do I need to do?"
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Jesus said to him, "If you want to be perfect, go and sell all you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have riches in heaven; then come and follow me."
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When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he was very rich.
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Jesus then said to his disciples, "I assure you: it will be very hard for rich people to enter the Kingdom of heaven.
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I repeat: it is much harder for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle."
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When the disciples heard this, they were completely amazed. "Who, then, can be saved?" they asked.
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Jesus looked straight at them and answered, "This is impossible for human beings, but for God everything is possible."
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Then Peter spoke up. "Look," he said, "we have left everything and followed you. What will we have?"
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Jesus said to them, "You can be sure that when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne in the New Age, then you twelve followers of mine will also sit on thrones, to rule the twelve tribes of Israel.
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And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake, will receive a hundred times more and will be given eternal life.
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But many who now are first will be last, and many who now are last will be first.
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"The Kingdom of heaven is like this. Once there was a man who went out early in the morning to hire some men to work in his vineyard.
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He agreed to pay them the regular wage, a silver coin a day, and sent them to work in his vineyard.
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He went out again to the marketplace at nine o'clock and saw some men standing there doing nothing,
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so he told them, 'You also go and work in the vineyard, and I will pay you a fair wage.'
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So they went. Then at twelve o'clock and again at three o'clock he did the same thing.
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It was nearly five o'clock when he went to the marketplace and saw some other men still standing there. 'Why are you wasting the whole day here doing nothing?' he asked them.
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'No one hired us,' they answered. 'Well, then, you go and work in the vineyard,' he told them.
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"When evening came, the owner told his foreman, 'Call the workers and pay them their wages, starting with those who were hired last and ending with those who were hired first.'
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The men who had begun to work at five o'clock were paid a silver coin each.
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So when the men who were the first to be hired came to be paid, they thought they would get more; but they too were given a silver coin each.
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They took their money and started grumbling against the employer.
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'These men who were hired last worked only one hour,' they said, 'while we put up with a whole day's work in the hot sun---yet you paid them the same as you paid us!'
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'Listen, friend,' the owner answered one of them, 'I have not cheated you. After all, you agreed to do a day's work for one silver coin.
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Now take your pay and go home. I want to give this man who was hired last as much as I gave you.
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Don't I have the right to do as I wish with my own money? Or are you jealous because I am generous?' "
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And Jesus concluded, "So those who are last will be first, and those who are first will be last."
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As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside and spoke to them privately, as they walked along.
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"Listen," he told them, "we are going up to Jerusalem, where the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the teachers of the Law. They will condemn him to death
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and then hand him over to the Gentiles, who will make fun of him, whip him, and crucify him; but three days later he will be raised to life."
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Then the wife of Zebedee came to Jesus with her two sons, bowed before him, and asked him for a favor.
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"What do you want?" Jesus asked her. She answered, "Promise me that these two sons of mine will sit at your right and your left when you are King."
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"You don't know what you are asking for," Jesus answered the sons. "Can you drink the cup of suffering that I am about to drink?" "We can," they answered.
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"You will indeed drink from my cup," Jesus told them, "but I do not have the right to choose who will sit at my right and my left. These places belong to those for whom my Father has prepared them."
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When the other ten disciples heard about this, they became angry with the two brothers.
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So Jesus called them all together and said, "You know that the rulers of the heathen have power over them, and the leaders have complete authority.
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This, however, is not the way it shall be among you. If one of you wants to be great, you must be the servant of the rest;
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and if one of you wants to be first, you must be the slave of the others---
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like the Son of Man, who did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life to redeem many people."
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As Jesus and his disciples were leaving Jericho, a large crowd was following.
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Two blind men who were sitting by the road heard that Jesus was passing by, so they began to shout, "Son of David! Have mercy on us, sir!"
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The crowd scolded them and told them to be quiet. But they shouted even more loudly, "Son of David! Have mercy on us, sir!"
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Jesus stopped and called them. "What do you want me to do for you?" he asked them.
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"Sir," they answered, "we want you to give us our sight!"
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Jesus had pity on them and touched their eyes; at once they were able to see, and they followed him.
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As Jesus and his disciples approached Jerusalem, they came to Bethphage at the Mount of Olives. There Jesus sent two of the disciples on ahead
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with these instructions: "Go to the village there ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied up with her colt beside her. Untie them and bring them to me.
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And if anyone says anything, tell him, 'The Master needs them'; and then he will let them go at once."
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This happened in order to make come true what the prophet had said:
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"Tell the city of Zion, Look, your king is coming to you! He is humble and rides on a donkey and on a colt, the foal of a donkey."
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So the disciples went and did what Jesus had told them to do:
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they brought the donkey and the colt, threw their cloaks over them, and Jesus got on.
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A large crowd of people spread their cloaks on the road while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.
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The crowds walking in front of Jesus and those walking behind began to shout, "Praise to David's Son! God bless him who comes in the name of the Lord! Praise be to God!"
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When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was thrown into an uproar. "Who is he?" the people asked.
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"This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth in Galilee," the crowds answered.
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Jesus went into the Temple and drove out all those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the moneychangers and the stools of those who sold pigeons,
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and said to them, "It is written in the Scriptures that God said, 'My Temple will be called a house of prayer.' But you are making it a hideout for thieves!"
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The blind and the crippled came to him in the Temple, and he healed them.
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The chief priests and the teachers of the Law became angry when they saw the wonderful things he was doing and the children shouting in the Temple, "Praise to David's Son!"
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So they asked Jesus, "Do you hear what they are saying?" "Indeed I do," answered Jesus. "Haven't you ever read this scripture? 'You have trained children and babies to offer perfect praise.' "
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Jesus left them and went out of the city to Bethany, where he spent the night.
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On his way back to the city early next morning, Jesus was hungry.
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He saw a fig tree by the side of the road and went to it, but found nothing on it except leaves. So he said to the tree, "You will never again bear fruit!" At once the fig tree dried up.
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The disciples saw this and were astounded. "How did the fig tree dry up so quickly?" they asked.
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Jesus answered, "I assure you that if you believe and do not doubt, you will be able to do what I have done to this fig tree. And not only this, but you will even be able to say to this hill, 'Get up and throw yourself in the sea,' and it will.
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If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer."
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Jesus came back to the Temple; and as he taught, the chief priests and the elders came to him and asked, "What right do you have to do these things? Who gave you such right?"
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Jesus 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.
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Where 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?'
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But 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."
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So 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.
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"Now, what do you think? There was once a man who had two sons. He went to the older one and said, 'Son, go and work in the vineyard today.'
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'I don't want to,' he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.
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Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. 'Yes, sir,' he answered, but he did not go.
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Which one of the two did what his father wanted?" "The older 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.
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For 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.
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"Listen to another parable," Jesus said. "There was once a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a hole for the wine press, and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to tenants and left home on a trip.
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When the time came to gather the grapes, he sent his slaves to the tenants to receive his share of the harvest.
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The tenants grabbed his slaves, beat one, killed another, and stoned another.
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Again the man sent other slaves, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way.
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Last of all he sent his son to them. 'Surely they will respect my son,' he said.
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But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, 'This is the owner's son. Come on, let's kill him, and we will get his property!'
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So they grabbed him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.
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"Now, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?" Jesus asked.
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"He will certainly kill those evil men," they answered, "and rent the vineyard out to other tenants, who will give him his share of the harvest at the right time."
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Jesus said to them, "Haven't you ever read what the Scriptures say? 'The stone which the builders rejected as worthless turned out to be the most important of all. This was done by the Lord; what a wonderful sight it is!'
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"And so I tell you," added Jesus, "the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce the proper fruits."
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The chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus' parables and knew that he was talking about them,
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so they tried to arrest him. But they were afraid of the crowds, who considered Jesus to be a prophet.
