Parable of the Marriage Feast

22 Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying, ² “^(A)The kingdom of heaven ^[a]may be compared to ^[b]a king who ^[c]gave a ^(B)wedding feast for his son. ³ And he ^(C)sent out his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding feast, and they were unwilling to come. ⁴ Again he ^(D)sent out other slaves saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited, “Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and my fattened livestock are all butchered and everything is ready; come to the wedding feast.”’ ⁵ But they paid no attention and went their way, one to his own ^[d]farm, another to his business, ⁶ and the rest seized his slaves and mistreated them and killed them. ⁷ But the king was enraged, and he sent his armies and destroyed those murderers and set their city on fire. ⁸ Then he *said to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. ⁹ Go therefore to ^(E)the main highways, and as many as you find there, invite to the wedding feast.’ ¹⁰ Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered together all they found, both evil and good; and the wedding hall was filled with ^[e]dinner guests.

¹¹ “But when the king came in to look over the dinner guests, he saw ^(F)a man there who was not dressed in wedding clothes, ¹² and he *said to him, ‘^(G)Friend, how did you come in here without wedding clothes?’ And the man was speechless. ¹³ Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into ^(H)the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ ¹⁴ For many are ^[f](I)called, but few are ^(J)chosen.”

Tribute to Caesar

^15 (K)Then the Pharisees went and ^[g]plotted together how they might trap Him ^[h]in what He said. ¹⁶ And they *sent their disciples to Him, along with the ^(L)Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that You are truthful and teach the way of God in truth, and ^[i]defer to no one; for You are not partial to any. ¹⁷ Tell us then, what do You think? Is it ^[j]lawful to give a ^(M)poll-tax to ^(N)Caesar, or not?” ¹⁸ But Jesus perceived their ^[k]malice, and said, “Why are you testing Me, you hypocrites? ¹⁹ Show Me the ^(O)coin used for the poll-tax.” And they brought Him a ^[l]denarius. ²⁰ And He *said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” ²¹ They *said to Him, “Caesar’s.” Then He *said to them, “^(P)Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and to God the things that are God’s.” ²² And hearing this, they were amazed, and ^(Q)leaving Him, they went away.

Jesus Answers the Sadducees

^23 (R)On that day some ^(S)Sadducees (who say ^(T)there is no resurrection) came to Jesus and questioned Him, ²⁴ asking, “Teacher, Moses said, ‘^(U)If a man dies having no children, his brother as next of kin shall marry his wife, and raise up children for his brother.’ ²⁵ Now there were seven brothers with us; and the first married and died, and having no children left his wife to his brother; ²⁶ so also the second, and the third, down to the seventh. ²⁷ Last of all, the woman died. ²⁸ In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife of the seven will she be? For they all had married her.”

²⁹ But Jesus answered and said to them, “You are mistaken, ^(V)not ^[m]understanding the Scriptures nor the power of God. ³⁰ For in the resurrection they neither ^(W)marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. ³¹ But regarding the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God: ³² ‘^(X)I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.” ³³ When the crowds heard this, ^(Y)they were astonished at His teaching.

^34 (Z)But when the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced ^(AA)the Sadducees, they gathered themselves together. ³⁵ One of them, ^[n](AB)a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, ³⁶ “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” ³⁷ And He said to him, “‘^(AC)You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ ³⁸ This is the great and ^[o]foremost commandment. ³⁹ The second is like it, ‘^(AD)You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ^40 (AE)On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”

^41 (AF)Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question: ⁴² “What do you think about ^[p]the Christ, whose son is He?” They *said to Him, “^(AG)The son of David.” ⁴³ He *said to them, “Then how does David ^[q](AH)in the Spirit call Him ‘Lord,’ saying,

⁴⁵ If David then calls Him ‘Lord,’ how is He his son?” ^46 (AJ)No one was able to answer Him a word, nor did anyone dare from that day on to ask Him ^[r]another question.

Parable of the Vine-growers

12 ^(A)And He began to speak to them in parables: “^(B)A man ^(C)planted a vineyard and put a ^[a]wall around it, and dug a vat under the wine press and built a tower, and rented it out to ^[b]vine-growers and went on a journey. ² At the harvest time he sent a slave to the vine-growers, in order to receive some of the produce of the vineyard from the vine-growers. ³ They took him, and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. ⁴ Again he sent them another slave, and they wounded him in the head, and treated him shamefully. ⁵ And he sent another, and that one they killed; and so with many others, beating some and killing others. ⁶ He had one more to send, a beloved son; he sent him last of all to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ ⁷ But those vine-growers said to one another, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours!’ ⁸ They took him, and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard. ⁹ What will the ^[c]owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the vine-growers, and will give the vineyard to others. ¹⁰ Have you not even read this Scripture:

^12 (F)And they were seeking to seize Him, and yet they feared the ^[d]people, for they understood that He spoke the parable against them. And so ^(G)they left Him and went away.

Jesus Answers the Pharisees, Sadducees and Scribes

^13 (H)Then they *sent some of the Pharisees and ^(I)Herodians to Him in order to ^(J)trap Him in a statement. ¹⁴ They *came and *said to Him, “Teacher, we know that You are truthful and ^[e]defer to no one; for You are not partial to any, but teach the way of God in truth. Is it ^[f]lawful to pay a poll-tax to Caesar, or not? ¹⁵ Shall we pay or shall we not pay?” But He, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, “Why are you testing Me? Bring Me a ^[g]denarius to look at.” ¹⁶ They brought one. And He *said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” And they said to Him, “Caesar’s.” ¹⁷ And Jesus said to them, “^(K)Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they ^[h]were amazed at Him.

^18 (L)Some Sadducees (who say that there is no resurrection) *came to Jesus, and began questioning Him, saying, ¹⁹ “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that ^(M)if a man’s brother dies and leaves behind a wife and leaves no child, his brother should ^[i]marry the wife and raise up children to his brother. ²⁰ There were seven brothers; and the first took a wife, and died leaving no children. ²¹ The second one ^[j]married her, and died leaving behind no children; and the third likewise; ²² and so ^[k]all seven left no children. Last of all the woman died also. ²³ In the resurrection, ^[l]when they rise again, which one’s wife will she be? For ^[m]all seven had married her.” ²⁴ Jesus said to them, “Is this not the reason you are mistaken, that you do not ^[n]understand the Scriptures or the power of God? ²⁵ For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. ²⁶ But ^[o]regarding the fact that the dead rise again, have you not read in the book of Moses, ^(N)in the passage about the burning bush, how God spoke to him, saying, ‘^(O)I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? ^27 (P)He is not the God ^[p]of the dead, but of the living; you are greatly mistaken.”

^28 (Q)One of the scribes came and heard them arguing, and ^(R)recognizing that He had answered them well, asked Him, “What commandment is the ^[q]foremost of all?” ²⁹ Jesus answered, “The foremost is, ‘^(S)Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord; ^30 (T)and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ ³¹ The second is this, ‘^(U)You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” ³² The scribe said to Him, “Right, Teacher; You have truly stated that ^(V)He is One, and there is no one else besides Him; ^33 (W)and to love Him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as himself, ^(X)is much more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” ³⁴ When Jesus saw that he had answered intelligently, He said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” ^(Y)After that, no one would venture to ask Him any more questions.

^35 (Z)And Jesus began to say, as He ^(AA)taught in the temple, “How is it that the scribes say that ^[r]the Christ is the ^(AB)son of David? ³⁶ David himself said ^[s]in the Holy Spirit,

³⁷ David himself calls Him ‘Lord’; so in what sense is He his son?” And ^(AD)the large crowd ^[t]enjoyed listening to Him.

^38 (AE)In His teaching He was saying: “Beware of the scribes who like to walk around in long robes, and like ^(AF)respectful greetings in the market places, ³⁹ and chief seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets, ^40 (AG)who devour widows’ houses, and for appearance’s sake offer long prayers; these will receive greater condemnation.”

The Widow’s Mite

^41 (AH)And He sat down opposite ^(AI)the treasury, and began observing how the people were ^(AJ)putting ^[u]money into the treasury; and many rich people were putting in large sums. ⁴² A poor widow came and put in two ^[v]small copper coins, which amount to a ^[w]cent. ⁴³ Calling His disciples to Him, He said to them, “Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all ^[x]the contributors to the treasury; ⁴⁴ for they all put in out of their ^[y]surplus, but she, out of her poverty, put in all she owned, ^[z]all she had ^(AK)to live on.”