Beginning

The parable of the tenants

12 Jesus began to speak to them with parables.

“Once upon a time,” he began, “there was a man who planted a vineyard. He built a fence around it, dug out a wine-press, built a watchtower, and then let it out to tenant farmers. He himself went abroad. ² When the time came he sent a slave to the farmers to collect from them his portion of the vineyard’s produce. ³ They seized him, beat him and sent him away empty-handed.

⁴ “So again he sent another slave to them. This one they beat about the head, and treated shamefully. ⁵ He sent another, and they killed him. He sent several more; they beat some and killed others.

⁶ “He had one more to send: his beloved son. He sent him to them last of all, thinking ‘They will respect my son.’

⁷ “But the tenant farmers said to themselves, ‘This is the heir! Come on—let’s kill him, and we’ll get the inheritance!’ ⁸ So they seized him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard.

⁹ “So what will the vineyard owner do? He will come and destroy those tenants, and give the vineyard to others. ¹⁰ Or haven’t you read the scripture which says,

¹² They tried to find a way of arresting him, because they realized he had directed the parable against them. But they were afraid of the crowd. They left him and went away.

On paying taxes to Caesar

¹³ They sent some Pharisees to Jesus, and some Herodians, to try to trick him into saying the wrong thing.

¹⁴ “Teacher,” they said, “we know you are a man of integrity; you don’t regard anybody as special. You don’t bother about the outward show people put up; you teach God’s way truly.

“Well then: is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar or not? Should we pay it, or shouldn’t we?”

¹⁵ He knew the game they were playing. “Why are you trying to trap me?” he said. “Bring me a tribute-coin; let me look at it.”

¹⁶ They brought one to him.

“This image,” he asked, “whose is it? And whose is this superscription?”

“Caesar’s,” they replied.

¹⁷ “Well then,” said Jesus, “give Caesar back what belongs to Caesar—and give God back what belongs to God!”

They were astonished at him.

Marriage and the resurrection

¹⁸ Some Sadducees approached Jesus (Sadducees, by the way, deny the resurrection).

¹⁹ “Teacher,” they said, “Moses wrote for us that ‘if a man’s brother dies, and leaves a wife but no child, the brother should take the wife and raise up descendants for his brother.’ ²⁰ Well now: there were once seven brothers. The first married a wife, and died without children. ²¹ The second married the widow, and died without children. The third did so as well, ²² and so did all seven, still without leaving children. Finally the woman died too. ²³ So: when they rise again in the resurrection, whose wife will she be? All seven had her, after all.”

²⁴ “Where you’re going wrong,” replied Jesus, “is that you don’t know the scriptures, or God’s power. ²⁵ When people rise from the dead, they don’t marry, nor do people give them in marriage. They are like angels in heaven.

²⁶ “However, to show that the dead are indeed to be raised, surely you’ve read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, what God says to Moses? ‘I am Abraham’s God, Isaac’s God and Jacob’s God’? ²⁷ He isn’t the God of the dead, but of the living. You are completely mistaken.”

The most important commandment

²⁸ One of the legal experts came up, and overheard the discussion. Realizing that Jesus had given a splendid answer, he put a question of his own.

“Which commandment,” he asked, “is the first one of all?”

²⁹ “The first one,” replied Jesus, “is this: ‘Listen, Israel: the Lord your God, the Lord is one; ³⁰ and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your understanding, and with all your strength.’ ³¹ And this is the second one: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these ones.”

³² “Well said, Teacher,” answered the lawyer. “You are right in saying that ‘he is one and that there is no other beside him,’ ³³ and that ‘to love him with all the heart, and with all the intelligence, and with all the strength’ and ‘to love one’s neighbor as oneself’ is worth far more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

³⁴ Jesus saw that his answer came out of deep understanding.

“You are not far from God’s kingdom,” he said to him.

After that, nobody dared put any more questions to him.

David’s son and the widow’s mite

³⁵ By way of response to it all, Jesus began to teach in the Temple.

“Why do the experts say,” he asked, “that the Messiah is the son of David? ³⁶ David himself, inspired by the holy spirit, said:

³⁷ “David himself calls him ‘Lord’; how then can he be his son?”

The whole crowd listened to him with delight.

³⁸ During his teaching, he said, “Beware of the lawyers! They like to walk about in long robes, and to be greeted in the market-places. ³⁹ They take the chief seats in the synagogue, and the best places at dinner parties. ⁴⁰ They devour the property of widows, and make long prayers without meaning them. They will receive all the more condemnation.”

⁴¹ As he sat opposite the Temple treasury, he watched the crowd putting money into the alms boxes. Lots of rich people put in substantial amounts. ⁴² Then there came a single poor widow, who put in two tiny coins, together worth a single penny.

⁴³ Jesus called his disciples.

“I’m telling you the truth,” he said. “This poor widow just put more into the treasury than everybody else. ⁴⁴ You see, all the others were contributing out of their wealth; but she put in everything she had, out of her poverty. It was her whole livelihood.”

Signs of the end

13 As they were going out of the Temple, one of Jesus’ disciples said to him, “Teacher! Look at these huge stones, and these huge buildings!”

² “You see these enormous buildings?” said Jesus. “There will not be one single stone left on top of another. They will all be torn down.”

³ Peter, James, John and Andrew approached him privately as he was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the Temple.

⁴ “Tell us,” they asked. “When will these things happen? What will be the sign that these things are about to be completed?”

⁵ “Take care that nobody deceives you,” Jesus began to say to them. ⁶ “Plenty of people will come in my name, saying ‘I’m the one!’ and they will lead plenty astray. ⁷ But whenever you hear about wars, and rumors of wars, don’t be disturbed. These things have to happen, but it doesn’t mean the end is here. ⁸ One nation will rise up against another; one kingdom will rise up against another. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines too. These are the first pains of childbirth.

⁹ “But watch out for yourselves. They will hand you over to courts, they will beat you in synagogues; you will stand before rulers and kings because of me, as a witness against them. ¹⁰ And the message of the kingdom must first be announced to all the nations. ¹¹ And when they put you on trial and hand you over, don’t work out beforehand what you are going to say, but say whatever is given you at that moment. It won’t be you speaking, you see, but the holy spirit.

¹² “One brother will hand over another to death. Fathers will hand over children. Children will rebel against parents and have them put to death. ¹³ And you will be hated by everyone because of my name. But the one who is patient through to the end—that one will be saved.”

Further signs of the end

¹⁴ “However,” Jesus continued, “when you see ‘the desolating abomination’ set up where it ought not to be” (let the reader understand) “then those who are in Judaea should run away to the mountains. ¹⁵ If you’re on the housetop, don’t go down, and don’t go in to get anything from the house. ¹⁶ If you’re out in the countryside, don’t turn back again to pick up your cloak.

¹⁷ “It will be a terrible time for pregnant and nursing mothers. ¹⁸ Pray that it won’t happen in winter. ¹⁹ Yes, those days will bring trouble like nothing that’s ever happened from the beginning of creation, which God created, until now, or ever will again. ²⁰ In fact, if the Lord had not shortened the days, no one would be rescued. But for the sake of his chosen ones, those whom he appointed, he shortened the days.

²¹ “So at that time, if someone says to you, ‘Look—here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘Look—there he is!’ don’t believe them; ²² because false messiahs and false prophets will arise, and will perform signs and portents to lead astray even God’s chosen ones, if that were possible. ²³ But you must be on your guard. I’ve told you everything ahead of time.

²⁴ “But in those days, after that suffering,

²⁶ “Then they will see ‘the son of man coming on clouds with great power and glory.’ ²⁷ And then he will dispatch his messengers, and will gather in his chosen ones from the four winds, from the ends of earth to the ends of heaven.”

Watching for the son of man

²⁸ “Learn this lesson from the fig tree. When its branch becomes soft and sprouts leaves, you know that summer is near. ²⁹ In the same way, when you see these things happen, you should know that it is near, right at the gates. ³⁰ I’m telling you the truth: this generation won’t disappear until all of this has happened. ³¹ Heaven and earth will disappear, but my words won’t disappear.

³² “No one knows, though, the day or the hour. The angels in heaven don’t know it; nor does the son; only the father.

³³ “Keep watch, stay awake. You don’t know when the moment will arrive. ³⁴ It’s like a man who goes away from home: he leaves his house, giving each of his slaves authority for their own tasks; and he commands the doorkeeper to keep watch. ³⁵ Keep watch, then, because you don’t know when the master of the house is going to come. It might be at evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or in the morning! ³⁶ You don’t want him to come suddenly and find you asleep. ³⁷ What I am telling you, I am telling everyone: keep watch!”