1
Then Jesus left that place, went to the province of Judea, and crossed the Jordan River. Crowds came flocking to him again, and he taught them, as he always did.
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Some Pharisees came to him and tried to trap him. "Tell us," they asked, "does our Law allow a man to divorce his wife?"
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Jesus answered with a question, "What law did Moses give you?"
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Their answer was, "Moses gave permission for a man to write a divorce notice and send his wife away."
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Jesus said to them, "Moses wrote this law for you because you are so hard to teach.
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But in the beginning, at the time of creation, 'God made them male and female,' as the scripture says.
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'And for this reason a man will leave his father and mother and unite with his wife,
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and the two will become one.' So they are no longer two, but one.
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No human being must separate, then, what God has joined together."
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When they went back into the house, the disciples asked Jesus about this matter.
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He said to them, "A man who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against his wife.
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In the same way, a woman who divorces her husband and marries another man commits adultery."
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Some people brought children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples scolded the people.
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When Jesus noticed this, he was angry and said to his disciples, "Let the children come to me, and do not stop them, because the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.
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I assure you that whoever does not receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it."
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Then he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on each of them, and blessed them.
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As Jesus was starting on his way again, a man ran up, knelt before him, and asked him, "Good Teacher, what must I do to receive eternal life?"
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"Why do you call me good?" Jesus asked him. "No one is good except God alone.
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You know the commandments: 'Do not commit murder; do not commit adultery; do not steal; do not accuse anyone falsely; do not cheat; respect your father and your mother.' "
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"Teacher," the man said, "ever since I was young, I have obeyed all these commandments."
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Jesus looked straight at him with love and said, "You need only one thing. 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 man heard this, gloom spread over his face, and he went away sad, because he was very rich.
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Jesus looked around at his disciples and said to them, "How hard it will be for rich people to enter the Kingdom of God!"
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The disciples were shocked at these words, but Jesus went on to say, "My children, how hard it is to enter the Kingdom of God!
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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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At this the disciples were completely amazed and asked one another, "Who, then, can be saved?"
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Jesus looked straight at them and answered, "This is impossible for human beings but not for God; everything is possible for God."
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Then Peter spoke up, "Look, we have left everything and followed you."
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"Yes," Jesus said to them, "and I tell you that those who leave home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and for the gospel,
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will receive much more in this present age. They will receive a hundred times more houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and fields---and persecutions as well; and in the age to come they will receive eternal life.
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But many who are now first will be last, and many who are now last will be first."
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Jesus and his disciples were now on the road going up to Jerusalem. Jesus was going ahead of the disciples, who were filled with alarm; the people who followed behind were afraid. Once again Jesus took the twelve disciples aside and spoke of the things that were going to happen to him.
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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 and then hand him over to the Gentiles,
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who will make fun of him, spit on him, whip him, and kill him; but three days later he will rise to life."
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Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Jesus. "Teacher," they said, "there is something we want you to do for us."
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"What is it?" Jesus asked them.
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They answered, "When you sit on your throne in your glorious Kingdom, we want you to let us sit with you, one at your right and one at your left."
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Jesus said to them, "You don't know what you are asking for. Can you drink the cup of suffering that I must drink? Can you be baptized in the way I must be baptized?"
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"We can," they answered. Jesus said to them, "You will indeed drink the cup I must drink and be baptized in the way I must be baptized.
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But I do not have the right to choose who will sit at my right and my left. It is God who will give these places to those for whom he has prepared them."
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When the other ten disciples heard about it, they became angry with James and John.
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So Jesus called them all together to him and said, "You know that those who are considered 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 is 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 all.
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For even the Son of Man did not come to be served; he came to serve and to give his life to redeem many people."
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They came to Jericho, and as Jesus was leaving with his disciples and a large crowd, a blind beggar named Bartimaeus son of Timaeus was sitting by the road.
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When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, "Jesus! Son of David! Have mercy on me!"
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Many of the people scolded him and told him to be quiet. But he shouted even more loudly, "Son of David, have mercy on me!"
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Jesus stopped and said, "Call him." So they called the blind man. "Cheer up!" they said. "Get up, he is calling you."
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So he threw off his cloak, jumped up, and came to Jesus.
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"What do you want me to do for you?" Jesus asked him. "Teacher," the blind man answered, "I want to see again."
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"Go," Jesus told him, "your faith has made you well." At once he was able to see and followed Jesus on the road.
1
As they approached Jerusalem, near the towns of Bethphage and Bethany, they came to the Mount of Olives. Jesus sent two of his disciples on ahead
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with these instructions: "Go to the village there ahead of you. As soon as you get there, you will find a colt tied up that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here.
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And if someone asks you why you are doing that, say that the Master needs it and will send it back at once."
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So they went and found a colt out in the street, tied to the door of a house. As they were untying it,
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some of the bystanders asked them, "What are you doing, untying that colt?"
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They answered just as Jesus had told them, and the crowd let them go.
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They brought the colt to Jesus, threw their cloaks over the animal, and Jesus got on.
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Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches in the field and spread them on the road.
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The people who were in front and those who followed behind began to shout, "Praise God! God bless him who comes in the name of the Lord!
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God bless the coming kingdom of King David, our father! Praise be to God!"
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Jesus entered Jerusalem, went into the Temple, and looked around at everything. But since it was already late in the day, he went out to Bethany with the twelve disciples.
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The next day, as they were coming back from Bethany, Jesus was hungry.
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He saw in the distance a fig tree covered with leaves, so he went to see if he could find any figs on it. But when he came to it, he found only leaves, because it was not the right time for figs.
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Jesus said to the fig tree, "No one shall ever eat figs from you again!" And his disciples heard him.
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When they arrived in Jerusalem, Jesus went to the Temple and began to drive out all those who were buying and selling. He overturned the tables of the moneychangers and the stools of those who sold pigeons,
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and he would not let anyone carry anything through the Temple courtyards.
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He then taught the people: "It is written in the Scriptures that God said, 'My Temple will be called a house of prayer for the people of all nations.' But you have turned it into a hideout for thieves!"
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The chief priests and the teachers of the Law heard of this, so they began looking for some way to kill Jesus. They were afraid of him, because the whole crowd was amazed at his teaching.
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When evening came, Jesus and his disciples left the city.
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Early next morning, as they walked along the road, they saw the fig tree. It was dead all the way down to its roots.
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Peter remembered what had happened and said to Jesus, "Look, Teacher, the fig tree you cursed has died!"
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Jesus answered them, "Have faith in God.
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I assure you that whoever tells this hill to get up and throw itself in the sea and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him.
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For this reason I tell you: When you pray and ask for something, believe that you have received it, and you will be given whatever you ask for.
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And when you stand and pray, forgive anything you may have against anyone, so that your Father in heaven will forgive the wrongs you have done."
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They arrived once again in Jerusalem. As Jesus was walking in the Temple, the chief priests, the teachers of the Law, and the elders came to him
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and asked him, "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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Tell me, where did John's right to baptize come from: was it from God or from human beings?"
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They started to argue among themselves: "What shall we say? If we answer, 'From God,' he will say, 'Why, then, did you not believe John?'
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But if we say, 'From human beings...' " (They were afraid of the people, because everyone was convinced that John had been a prophet.)
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So their answer to Jesus was, "We don't know." Jesus said to them, "Neither will I tell you, then, by what right I do these things."
1
Then Jesus spoke to them in parables: "Once there was a man 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 a slave to the tenants to receive from them his share of the harvest.
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The tenants grabbed the slave, beat him, and sent him back without a thing.
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Then the owner sent another slave; the tenants beat him over the head and treated him shamefully.
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The owner sent another slave, and they killed him; and they treated many others the same way, beating some and killing others.
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The only one left to send was the man's own dear son. Last of all, then, he sent his son to the tenants. 'I am sure they will respect my son,' he said.
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But those tenants said to one another, 'This is the owner's son. Come on, let's kill him, and his property will be ours!'
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So they grabbed the son and killed him and threw his body out of the vineyard.
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"What, then, will the owner of the vineyard do?" asked Jesus. "He will come and kill those tenants and turn the vineyard over to others.
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Surely you have read this scripture? 'The stone which the builders rejected as worthless turned out to be the most important of all.
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This was done by the Lord; what a wonderful sight it is!' "
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The Jewish leaders tried to arrest Jesus, because they knew that he had told this parable against them. But they were afraid of the crowd, so they left him and went away.
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Some Pharisees and some members of Herod's party were sent to Jesus to trap him with questions.
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They came to him and said, "Teacher, we know that you tell the truth, without worrying about what people think. You pay no attention to anyone's status, but teach the truth about God's will for people. Tell us, is it against our Law to pay taxes to the Roman Emperor? Should we pay them or not?"
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But Jesus saw through their trick and answered, "Why are you trying to trap me? Bring a silver coin, and let me see it."
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They brought him one, and he asked, "Whose face and name are these?" "The Emperor's," they answered.
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So Jesus said, "Well, then, pay to the Emperor what belongs to the Emperor, and pay to God what belongs to God." And they were amazed at Jesus.
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Then some Sadducees, who say that people will not rise from death, came to Jesus and said,
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"Teacher, Moses wrote this law for us: 'If a man dies and leaves a wife but no children, that man's brother must marry the widow so that they can have children who will be considered the dead man's children.'
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Once there were seven brothers; the oldest got married and died without having children.
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Then the second one married the woman, and he also died without having children. The same thing happened to the third brother,
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and then to the rest: all seven brothers married the woman and died without having children. Last of all, the woman died.
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Now, when all the dead rise to life on the day of resurrection, whose wife will she be? All seven of them had married her."
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Jesus answered them, "How wrong you are! And do you know why? It is because you don't know the Scriptures or God's power.
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For when the dead rise to life, they will be like the angels in heaven and will not marry.
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Now, as for the dead being raised: haven't you ever read in the Book of Moses the passage about the burning bush? There it is written that God said to Moses, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.'
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He is the God of the living, not of the dead. You are completely wrong!"
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A teacher of the Law was there who heard the discussion. He saw that Jesus had given the Sadducees a good answer, so he came to him with a question: "Which commandment is the most important of all?"
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Jesus replied, "The most important one is this: 'Listen, Israel! The Lord our God is the only Lord.
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Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.'
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The second most important commandment is this: 'Love your neighbor as you love yourself.' There is no other commandment more important than these two."
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The teacher of the Law said to Jesus, "Well done, Teacher! It is true, as you say, that only the Lord is God and that there is no other god but he.
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And you must love God with all your heart and with all your mind and with all your strength; and you must love your neighbor as you love yourself. It is more important to obey these two commandments than to offer on the altar animals and other sacrifices to God."
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Jesus noticed how wise his answer was, and so he told him, "You are not far from the Kingdom of God." After this nobody dared to ask Jesus any more questions.
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As Jesus was teaching in the Temple, he asked the question, "How can the teachers of the Law say that the Messiah will be the descendant of David?
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The Holy Spirit inspired David to say: 'The Lord said to my Lord: Sit here at my right side until I put your enemies under your feet.'
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David himself called him 'Lord'; so how can the Messiah be David's descendant?" A large crowd was listening to Jesus gladly.
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As he taught them, he said, "Watch out for the teachers of the Law, who like to walk around in their long robes and be greeted with respect in the marketplace,
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who choose the reserved seats in the synagogues and the best places at feasts.
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They take advantage of widows and rob them of their homes, and then make a show of saying long prayers. Their punishment will be all the worse!"
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As Jesus sat near the Temple treasury, he watched the people as they dropped in their money. Many rich men dropped in a lot of money;
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then a poor widow came along and dropped in two little copper coins, worth about a penny.
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He called his disciples together and said to them, "I tell you that this poor widow put more in the offering box than all the others.
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For the others put in what they had to spare of their riches; but she, poor as she is, put in all she had---she gave all she had to live on."
