Mark 11-12

Contemporary English Version

Jesus Enters Jerusalem

(Matthew 21.1-11; Luke 19.28-40; John 12.12-19)

11 Jesus and his disciples reached Bethphage and Bethany near the Mount of Olives. When they were getting close to Jerusalem, Jesus sent two of them on ahead. ² He told them, “Go into the next village. As soon as you enter it, you will find a young donkey that has never been ridden. Untie the donkey and bring it here. ³ If anyone asks why you are doing this, say, ‘The Lord^[a] needs it and will soon bring it back.’ ”

⁴ The disciples left and found the donkey tied near a door that faced the street. While they were untying it, ⁵ some of the people standing there asked, “Why are you untying the donkey?” ⁶ They told them what Jesus had said, and the people let them take it.

⁷ The disciples led the donkey to Jesus. They put some of their clothes on its back, and Jesus got on. ⁸ Many people spread clothes on the road, while others spread branches they had cut from the fields.^[b]

^9 (A) In front of Jesus and behind him, people went along shouting,

¹¹ After Jesus had gone to Jerusalem, he went into the temple and looked around at everything. But since it was already late in the day, he went back to Bethany with the twelve disciples.

Jesus Puts a Curse on a Fig Tree

(Matthew 21.18,19)

¹² When Jesus and his disciples left Bethany the next morning, he was hungry. ¹³ From a distance Jesus saw a fig tree covered with leaves, and he went to see if there were any figs on the tree. But there were none, because it wasn't the season for figs. ¹⁴ So Jesus said to the tree, “Never again will anyone eat fruit from this tree!” The disciples heard him say this.

Jesus in the Temple

(Matthew 21.12-17; Luke 19.45-48; John 2.13-22)

¹⁵ After Jesus and his disciples reached Jerusalem, he went into the temple and began chasing out everyone who was selling and buying. He turned over the tables of the moneychangers and the benches of those who were selling doves. ¹⁶ Jesus would not let anyone carry things through the temple. ^17 (B) Then he taught the people and said, “The Scriptures say, ‘My house should be called a place of worship for all nations.’ But you have made it a place where robbers hide!”

¹⁸ The chief priests and the teachers of the Law of Moses heard what Jesus said, and they started looking for a way to kill him. They were afraid of him, because the crowds were completely amazed at his teaching.

¹⁹ That evening, Jesus and the disciples went outside the city.

A Lesson from the Fig Tree

(Matthew 21.20-22)

²⁰ As the disciples walked past the fig tree the next morning, they noticed that it was completely dried up, roots and all. ²¹ Peter remembered what Jesus had said to the tree. Then Peter said, “Teacher, look! The tree you put a curse on has dried up.”

²² Jesus told his disciples:

Have faith in God! ^23 (C) If you have faith in God and don't doubt, you can tell this mountain to get up and jump into the sea, and it will. ²⁴ Everything you ask for in prayer will be yours, if you only have faith.

^25-26 (D) Whenever you stand up to pray, you must forgive what others have done to you. Then your Father in heaven will forgive your sins.^[d]

A Question about Jesus' Authority

(Matthew 21.23-27; Luke 20.1-8)

²⁷ Jesus and his disciples returned to Jerusalem. And as he was walking through the temple, the chief priests, the nation's leaders, and the teachers of the Law of Moses came over to him. ²⁸ They asked, “What right do you have to do these things? Who gave you this authority?”

²⁹ Jesus answered, “I have just one question to ask you. If you answer it, I will tell you where I got the right to do these things. ³⁰ Who gave John the right to baptize? Was it God in heaven or merely some human being?”

³¹ They thought it 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. ³² On the other hand, these people think that John was a prophet. So we can't say it was merely some human who gave John the right to baptize.”

They were afraid of the crowd ³³ and told Jesus, “We don't know.”

Jesus 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; Luke 20.9-19)

12 ^(E) 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 (F) 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.^[e] 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 (G) The Sadducees did not believe that people would rise to life after death. So some of them came to Jesus and said:

^19 (H) 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 (I) 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.”^{[f] 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 (J) 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 (K) 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 (L) The second most important commandment says: ‘Love others as much as you love yourself.’ No other commandment is more important than these.”

^32 (M) The man replied, “Teacher, you are certainly right to say there is only one God. ^33 (N) 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 (O) The Holy Spirit led David to say,