Jesus Is Alive

(Matthew 28.1-8; Luke 24.1-12; John 20.1-10)

16 After the Sabbath, Mary Magdalene, Salome, and Mary the mother of James bought some spices to put on Jesus' body. ² Very early on Sunday morning, just as the sun was coming up, they went to the tomb. ³ On their way, they were asking one another, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance for us?” ⁴ But when they looked, they saw that the stone had already been rolled away. And it was a huge stone!

⁵ The women went into the tomb, and on the right side they saw a young man in a white robe sitting there. They were alarmed.

⁶ The man said, “Don't be alarmed! You are looking for Jesus from Nazareth, who was nailed to a cross. God has raised him to life, and he isn't here. You can see the place where they put his body. ^7 (A) Now go and tell his disciples, and especially Peter, that he will go ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there, just as he told you.”

⁸ When the women ran from the tomb, they were confused and shaking all over. They were too afraid to tell anyone what had happened.

ONE OLD ENDING TO MARK'S GOSPEL^[a]

Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene

(Matthew 28.9,10; John 20.11-18)

⁹ Very early on the first day of the week, after Jesus had risen to life, he appeared to Mary Magdalene. Earlier he had forced seven demons out of her. ¹⁰ She left and told his friends, who were crying and mourning. ¹¹ Even though they heard that Jesus was alive and that Mary had seen him, they still would not believe it.

Jesus Appears to Two Disciples

(Luke 24.13-35)

¹² Later, Jesus appeared in another form to two disciples, as they were on their way out of the city. ¹³ But when these disciples told what had happened, the others would not believe either.

What Jesus' Followers Must Do

(Matthew 28.16-20; Luke 24.36-49; John 20.19-23; Acts 1.6-8)

¹⁴ Afterwards, Jesus appeared to his eleven disciples as they were eating. He scolded them because they were too stubborn to believe the ones who had seen him after he had been raised to life. ^15 (B) Then he told them:

Go and preach the good news to everyone in the world. ¹⁶ Anyone who believes me and is baptized will be saved. But anyone who refuses to believe me will be condemned. ¹⁷ Everyone who believes me will be able to do wonderful things. By using my name they will force out demons, and they will speak new languages. ¹⁸ They will handle snakes and will drink poison and not be hurt. They will also heal sick people by placing their hands on them.

Jesus Returns to Heaven

(Luke 24.50-53; Acts 1.9-11)

^19 (C) After the Lord Jesus had said these things to the disciples, he was taken back up to heaven where he sat down at the right side^[b] of God. ²⁰ Then the disciples left and preached everywhere. The Lord was with them, and the miracles they worked proved that their message was true.

ANOTHER OLD ENDING TO MARK'S GOSPEL^[c]

^9-10 The women quickly told Peter and his friends what had happened. Later, Jesus sent the disciples to the east and to the west with his sacred and everlasting message of how people can be saved forever.

Renters of a Vineyard

(Matthew 21.33-46; Luke 20.9-19)

12 ^(A) Jesus then told them this story:

A farmer once planted a vineyard. He built a wall around it and dug a pit to crush the grapes in. He also built a lookout tower. Then he rented out his vineyard and left the country.

² When it was harvest time, he sent a servant to get his share of the grapes. ³ The renters grabbed the servant, beat him up, and sent him away without a thing.

⁴ The owner sent another servant, but the renters beat him on the head and insulted him terribly. ⁵ Then the man sent another servant, and they killed him. He kept sending servant after servant. They beat some of them and killed some.

⁶ The owner had a son he loved very much. Finally, he sent his son to the renters because he thought they would respect him. ⁷ But they said to themselves, “Someday he will own this vineyard. Let's kill him! That way we can have it all for ourselves.” ⁸ So they grabbed the owner's son, killed him, and threw his body out of the vineyard.

⁹ Jesus asked, “What do you think the owner of the vineyard will do? He will come and kill those renters and let someone else have his vineyard. ^10 (B) You surely know that the Scriptures say,

¹² The leaders knew that Jesus was really talking about them, and they wanted to arrest him. But because they were afraid of the crowd, they let him alone and left.

Paying Taxes

(Matthew 22.15-22; Luke 20.20-26)

¹³ The Pharisees got together with Herod's followers.^[a] Then they sent some men to trick Jesus into saying something wrong. ¹⁴ They went to him and said, “Teacher, we know that you are honest. You treat everyone with the same respect, no matter who they are. And you teach the truth about what God wants people to do. Tell us, should we pay taxes to the Emperor or not?”

¹⁵ Jesus knew what they were up to, and he said, “Why are you trying to test me? Show me a coin!”

¹⁶ They brought him a silver coin, and he asked, “Whose picture and name are on it?”

“The Emperor's,” they answered.

¹⁷ Then Jesus told them, “Give the Emperor what belongs to him and give God what belongs to God.” The men were amazed at Jesus.

Life in the Future World

(Matthew 22.23-33; Luke 20.27-40)

^18 (C) The Sadducees did not believe that people would rise to life after death. So some of them came to Jesus and said:

^19 (D) Teacher, Moses wrote that if a married man dies and has no children, his brother should marry the widow. Their first son would then be thought of as the son of the dead brother. ²⁰ There were once seven brothers. The first one married, but died without having any children. ²¹ The second brother married his brother's widow, and he also died without having children. The same thing happened to the third brother, ²² and finally to all seven brothers. At last the woman died. ²³ When God raises people from death, whose wife will this woman be? After all, she had been married to all seven brothers.

²⁴ Jesus answered:

You are completely wrong! You don't know what the Scriptures teach. And you don't know anything about the power of God. ²⁵ When God raises people to life, they won't marry. They will be like the angels in heaven. ^26 (E) You surely know about people being raised to life. You know that in the story about Moses and the burning bush, God said, “I am the God worshiped by Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”^{[b] 27} He isn't the God of the dead, but of the living. You Sadducees are all wrong.

The Most Important Commandment

(Matthew 22.34-40; Luke 10.25-28)

^28 (F) One of the teachers of the Law of Moses came up while Jesus and the Sadducees were arguing. When he heard Jesus give a good answer, he asked him, “What is the most important commandment?”

^29 (G) Jesus answered, “The most important one says: ‘People of Israel, you have only one Lord and God. ³⁰ You must love him with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.’ ^31 (H) The second most important commandment says: ‘Love others as much as you love yourself.’ No other commandment is more important than these.”

^32 (I) The man replied, “Teacher, you are certainly right to say there is only one God. ^33 (J) It is also true that we must love God with all our heart, mind, and strength, and that we must love others as much as we love ourselves. These commandments are more important than all the sacrifices and offerings that we could possibly make.”

³⁴ When Jesus saw that the man had given a sensible answer, he told him, “You are not far from God's kingdom.” After this, no one dared ask Jesus any more questions.

About David's Son

(Matthew 22.41-46; Luke 20.41-44)

³⁵ As Jesus was teaching in the temple, he said, “How can the teachers of the Law of Moses say the Messiah will come from the family of King David? ^36 (K) The Holy Spirit led David to say,