Luke 19-20 (Contemporary English Version)

Luke 19

Zacchaeus

 ¹Jesus was going through Jericho, ²where a man named Zacchaeus lived. He was in charge of collecting taxes ^[a] and was very rich. ^3-4Jesus was heading his way, and Zacchaeus wanted to see what he was like. But Zacchaeus was a short man and could not see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree. ⁵When Jesus got there, he looked up and said, "Zacchaeus, hurry down! I want to stay with you today." ⁶Zacchaeus hurried down and gladly welcomed Jesus.

    ⁷Everyone who saw this started grumbling, "This man Zacchaeus is a sinner! And Jesus is going home to eat with him."

    ⁸Later that day Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, "I will give half of my property to the poor. And I will now pay back four times as much ^[b] to everyone I have ever cheated." ⁹Jesus said to Zacchaeus, "Today you and your family have been saved, ^[c] because you are a true son of Abraham. ^{[d] 10}The Son of Man came to look for and to save people who are lost."

A Story about Ten Servants

(Matthew 25.14-30)

 ¹¹The crowd was still listening to Jesus as he was getting close to Jerusalem. Many of them thought that God's kingdom would soon appear, ¹²and Jesus told them this story:

   A prince once went to a foreign country to be crowned king and then to return. ¹³But before leaving, he called in ten servants and gave each of them some money. He told them, "Use this to earn more money until I get back."

    ¹⁴But the people of his country hated him, and they sent messengers to the foreign country to say, "We don't want this man to be our king."

    ¹⁵After the prince had been made king, he returned and called in his servants. He asked them how much they had earned with the money they had been given.

    ¹⁶The first servant came and said, "Sir, with the money you gave me I have earned ten times as much."

    ¹⁷"That's fine, my good servant!" the king said. "Since you have shown that you can be trusted with a small amount, you will be given ten cities to rule."

    ¹⁸The second one came and said, "Sir, with the money you gave me, I have earned five times as much."

    ¹⁹The king said, "You will be given five cities."

    ²⁰Another servant came and said, "Sir, here is your money. I kept it safe in a handkerchief. ²¹You are a hard man, and I was afraid of you. You take what isn't yours, and you harvest crops you didn't plant."

    ²²"You worthless servant!" the king told him. "You have condemned yourself by what you have just said. You knew that I am a hard man, taking what isn't mine and harvesting what I've not planted. ²³Why didn't you put my money in the bank? On my return, I could have had the money together with interest."

    ²⁴Then he said to some other servants standing there, "Take the money away from him and give it to the servant who earned ten times as much."

    ²⁵But they said, "Sir, he already has ten times as much!"

    ²⁶The king replied, "Those who have something will be given more. But everything will be taken away from those who don't have anything. ²⁷Now bring me the enemies who didn't want me to be their king. Kill them while I watch!"

   

Jesus Enters Jerusalem

(Matthew 21.1-11; Mark 11.1-11; John 12.12-19)

 ²⁸When Jesus had finished saying all this, he went on toward Jerusalem. ²⁹As he was getting near Bethphage and Bethany on the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples on ahead. ³⁰He told them, "Go into the next village, where you will find a young donkey that has never been ridden. Untie the donkey and bring it here. ³¹If anyone asks why you are doing that, just say, `The Lord ^[e] needs it.' " ³²They went off and found everything just as Jesus had said. ³³While they were untying the donkey, its owners asked, "Why are you doing that?"

    ³⁴They answered, "The Lord ^[f] needs it."

    ³⁵Then they led the donkey to Jesus. They put some of their clothes on its back and helped Jesus get on. ³⁶And as he rode along, the people spread clothes on the road in front of him. ³⁷When Jesus was starting down the Mount of Olives, his large crowd of disciples were happy and praised God because of all the miracles they had seen. ³⁸They shouted,

   "Blessed is the king who comes

   in the name of the Lord!

   Peace in heaven

   and glory to God."

    ³⁹Some Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, "Teacher, make your disciples stop shouting!"

    ⁴⁰But Jesus answered, "If they keep quiet, these stones will start shouting."

    ⁴¹When Jesus came closer and could see Jerusalem, he cried ⁴²and said:

   It is too bad that today your people don't know what will bring them peace! Now it is hidden from them. ⁴³Jerusalem, the time will come when your enemies will build walls around you to attack you. Armies will surround you and close in on you from every side. ⁴⁴They will level you to the ground and kill your people. Not one stone in your buildings will be left on top of another. This will happen because you did not see that God had come to save you. ^[g]

Jesus in the Temple

(Matthew 21.12-17; Mark 11.15-19; John 2.13-22)

 ⁴⁵When Jesus entered the temple, he started chasing out the people who were selling things. ⁴⁶He told them, "The Scriptures say, `My house should be a place of worship.' But you have made it a place where robbers hide!"

    ⁴⁷Each day, Jesus kept on teaching in the temple. So the chief priests, the teachers of the Law of Moses, and some other important people tried to have him killed. ⁴⁸But they could not find a way to do it, because everyone else was eager to listen to him.

   

Luke 20

A Question about Jesus' Authority

(Matthew 21.23-27; Mark 11.27-33)

 ¹One day, Jesus was teaching in the temple and telling the good news. So the chief priests, the teachers, and the nation's leaders ²asked him, "What right do you have to do these things? Who gave you this authority?"

    ³Jesus replied, "I want to ask you a question. ⁴Who gave John the right to baptize? Was it God in heaven or merely some human being?"

    ⁵They talked this over and said to each other, "We can't say that God gave John this right. Jesus will ask us why we didn't believe John. ⁶And we can't say that it was merely some human who gave John the right to baptize. The crowd will stone us to death, because they think John was a prophet."

    ⁷So they told Jesus, "We don't know who gave John the right to baptize."

    ⁸Jesus replied, "Then I won't tell you who gave me the right to do what I do."

   

Renters of a Vineyard

(Matthew 21.33-46; Mark 12.1-12)

 ⁹Jesus told the people this story:

   A man once planted a vineyard and rented it out. Then he left the country for a long time. ¹⁰When it was time to harvest the crop, he sent a servant to ask the renters for his share of the grapes. But they beat up the servant and sent him away without anything. ¹¹So the owner sent another servant. The renters also beat him up. They insulted him terribly and sent him away without a thing. ¹²The owner sent a third servant. He was also beaten terribly and thrown out of the vineyard.

    ¹³The owner then said to himself, "What am I going to do? I know what. I'll send my son, the one I love so much. They will surely respect him!"

    ¹⁴When the renters saw the owner's son, they said to one another, "Someday he will own the vineyard. Let's kill him! Then we can have it all for ourselves." ¹⁵So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

   Jesus asked, "What do you think the owner of the vineyard will do? ¹⁶I'll tell you what. He will come and kill those renters and let someone else have his vineyard."

   When the people heard this, they said, "This must never happen!"

    ¹⁷But Jesus looked straight at them and said, "Then what do the Scriptures mean when they say, `The stone that the builders tossed aside is now the most important stone of all'? ¹⁸Anyone who stumbles over this stone will get hurt, and anyone it falls on will be smashed to pieces."

    ¹⁹The chief priests and the teachers of the Law of Moses knew that Jesus was talking about them when he was telling this story. They wanted to arrest him right then, but they were afraid of the people.

   

Paying Taxes

(Matthew 22.15-22; Mark 12.13-17)

 ²⁰Jesus' enemies kept watching him closely, because they wanted to hand him over to the Roman governor. So they sent some men who pretended to be good. But they were really spies trying to catch Jesus saying something wrong. ²¹The spies said to him, "Teacher, we know that you teach the truth about what God wants people to do. And you treat everyone with the same respect, no matter who they are. ²²Tell us, should we pay taxes to the Emperor or not?"

    ²³Jesus knew that they were trying to trick him. So he told them, ²⁴"Show me a coin." Then he asked, "Whose picture and name are on it?"

   "The Emperor's," they answered.

    ²⁵Then he told them, "Give the Emperor what belongs to him and give God what belongs to God." ²⁶Jesus' enemies could not catch him saying anything wrong there in front of the people. They were amazed at his answer and kept quiet.

   

Life in the Future World

(Matthew 22.23-33; Mark 12.18-27)

 ²⁷The Sadducees did not believe that people would rise to life after death. So some of them came to Jesus ²⁸and said:

   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.

    ²⁹There were once seven brothers. The first one married, but died without having any children. ³⁰The second one married his brother's widow, and he also died without having any children. ³¹The same thing happened to the third one. Finally, all seven brothers married that woman and died without having any children. ³²At last the woman died. ³³When God raises people from death, whose wife will this woman be? All seven brothers had married her.

    ³⁴Jesus answered:

   The people in this world get married. ³⁵But in the future world no one who is worthy to rise from death will either marry ³⁶or die. They will be like the angels and will be God's children, because they have been raised to life.

    ³⁷In the story about the burning bush, Moses clearly shows that people will live again. He said, "The Lord is the God worshiped by Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." ^{[h] 38}So the Lord isn't the God of the dead, but of the living. This means that everyone is alive as far as God is concerned. ³⁹Some of the teachers of the Law of Moses said, "Teacher, you have given a good answer!" ⁴⁰From then on, no one dared to ask Jesus any questions.

   

About David's Son

(Matthew 22.41-46; Mark 12.35-37)

 ⁴¹Jesus asked, "Why do people say that the Messiah will be the son of King David? ^{[i] 42}In the book of Psalms, David himself says, `The Lord said to my Lord,

   Sit at my right side ^[j]

    ⁴³until I make your enemies

   into a footstool for you.'

    ⁴⁴David spoke of the Messiah as his Lord, so how can the Messiah be his son?"

   

Jesus and the Teachers of the Law of Moses

(Matthew 23.1-36; Mark 12.38-40; Luke 11.37-54)

 ⁴⁵While everyone was listening to Jesus, he said to his disciples:

    ⁴⁶Guard against the teachers of the Law of Moses! They love to walk around in long robes, and they like to be greeted in the market. They want the front seats in the meeting places and the best seats at banquets. ⁴⁷But they cheat widows out of their homes and then pray long prayers just to show off. These teachers will be punished most of all.