Read the Gospels in 40 Days
Zacchaeus
19 Jesus was going through the city of Jericho. 2 In Jericho there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a wealthy, very important tax collector. 3 He wanted to see who Jesus was, but he was too short to see above the crowd. 4 He ran ahead to a place where he knew Jesus would come. He climbed a sycamore tree so he could see Jesus. 5 When Jesus came to that place, he looked up and saw Zacchaeus in the tree. He said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down! I must stay at your house today.”
6 Zacchaeus came down quickly. He was pleased to have Jesus in his house. 7 All the people saw this and began to complain, “Look at the kind of man Jesus stays with. Zacchaeus is a sinner!”
8 But Zacchaeus said to the Lord, “I will give half of my money to the poor. If I have cheated anyone, I will pay that person back four times more!”
9 Jesus said, “Salvation has come to this house today. This man truly belongs to the family of Abraham. 10 The Son of Man came to find lost people and save them.”
A Story About Three Servants
11 Jesus traveled closer to Jerusalem. Some of the people thought that God’s kingdom would appear soon. 12 Jesus knew that the people thought this, so he told them this story: “A very important man was preparing to go to a country far away to be made a king. Then he planned to return home and rule his people. 13 So the man called ten of his servants together. He gave a bag of money[a] to each servant. He said, ‘Do business with this money till I get back.’ 14 But the people in the kingdom hated the man. So they sent a group to follow him and say, ‘We don’t want this man to be our king!’
15 “But the man became king. When he came home, he said, ‘Call those servants who have my money. I want to know how much they earned with it.’
16 “The first servant came and said, ‘Sir, I earned ten bags of money with the one bag you gave me!’ 17 The king said to the servant, ‘Fine! You are a good servant. I see that I can trust you with small things. So now I will let you rule over ten of my cities.’
18 “The second servant said, ‘Sir, with your one bag of money I earned five bags!’ 19 The king said to this servant, ‘You can rule over five cities.’
20 “Then another servant came in. The servant said to the king, ‘Sir, here is your bag of money. I wrapped it in a piece of cloth and hid it. 21 I was afraid of you because you are a hard man. You even take money that you didn’t earn and gather food that you didn’t plant.’ 22 Then the king said to the servant, ‘You evil servant! I will use your own words to condemn you. You said that I am a hard man. You said that I even take money that I didn’t earn and gather food that I didn’t plant. 23 If that is true, then you should have put my money in the bank. Then, when I came back, my money would have earned some interest.’
24 “Then the king said to the men who were watching, ‘Take the bag of money away from this servant and give it to the servant who earned ten bags of money.’ 25 They said to the king, ‘But sir, that servant already has ten bags of money!’ 26 The king said, ‘The one who uses what he has will get more. But the one who does not use what he has will have everything taken away from him. 27 Now where are my enemies who didn’t want me to be king? Bring them here and kill them before me.’”
Jesus Enters Jerusalem as a King
28 After Jesus said this, he went on toward Jerusalem. 29 Jesus came near Bethphage and Bethany, towns near the hill called the Mount of Olives. Then he sent out two of his followers. 30 He said, “Go into the town you can see there. When you enter it, you will find a colt tied there. No one has ever ridden this colt. Untie it, and bring it here to me. 31 If anyone asks you why you are taking it, say, ‘The Master needs it.’”
32 The two followers went into town. They found the colt just as Jesus told them. 33 The followers untied it, but the owners of the colt came out. They asked the followers, “Why are you untying our colt?”
34 The followers answered, “The Master needs it.” 35 So they brought it to Jesus. They threw their coats on the colt’s back and put Jesus on it. 36 As Jesus rode toward Jerusalem, the followers spread their coats on the road before him.
37 Jesus was coming close to Jerusalem. He was already near the bottom of the Mount of Olives. The whole crowd of followers was very happy. They began shouting praise to God for all the powerful works they had seen. They said,
38 “God bless the king who comes in the name of the Lord!
There is peace in heaven and glory to God!” Psalm 118:26
39 Some of the Pharisees said to Jesus, “Teacher, tell your followers not to say these things!”
40 But Jesus answered, “I tell you, if my followers don’t say these things, then the stones will cry out.”
Jesus Cries for Jerusalem
41 Jesus came near Jerusalem. He saw the city and began to cry for it. 42 Jesus said to Jerusalem, “I wish you knew today what would bring you peace! But you can’t know it, because it is hidden from you. 43 A time is coming when your enemies will build a wall around you and will hold you in on all sides. 44 They will destroy you and all your people. Not one stone of your buildings will be left on another. All this will happen because you did not know the time when God came to save you.”
Jesus Goes to the Temple
45 Jesus went into the Temple. He began to throw out the people who were selling things there. 46 He said, “It is written in the Scriptures, ‘My Temple will be a house where people will pray.’[b] But you have changed it into a ‘hideout for robbers’!”[c]
47 Jesus taught in the Temple every day. The leading priests, the teachers of the law, and some of the leaders of the people wanted to kill Jesus. 48 But all the people were listening closely to him and were interested in all the things he said. So the leading priests, the teachers of the law, and the leaders did not know how they could kill him.
The Leaders Question Jesus
20 One day Jesus was in the Temple, teaching the people and telling them the Good News. The leading priests, teachers of the law, and Jewish elders came up to talk with him. 2 They said, “Tell us! What authority do you have to do these things? Who gave you this authority?”
3 Jesus answered, “I will ask you a question too. Tell me: 4 When John baptized people, did that come from God or from man?”
5 The priests, the teachers of the law, and the Jewish leaders all talked about this. They said to each other, “If we answer, ‘John’s baptism was from God,’ then Jesus will say, ‘Then why did you not believe John?’ 6 But if we say, ‘John’s baptism was from man,’ then all the people will kill us with stones because they believe that John was a prophet.” 7 So they answered, “We don’t know the answer.”
8 So Jesus said to them, “Then I will not tell you by what authority I do these things!”
God Sends His Son
9 Then Jesus told the people this story: “A man planted a vineyard. The man leased the land to some farmers. Then he went away for a long time. 10 Later, it was time for the grapes to be picked. So the man sent a servant to those farmers to get his share of the grapes. But they beat the servant and sent him away with nothing. 11 Then he sent another servant. They beat this servant too. They showed no respect for him and sent him away with nothing. 12 So the man sent a third servant. The farmers hurt this servant badly and threw him out. 13 The owner of the vineyard said, ‘What will I do now? I will send my son whom I love very much. Maybe they will respect him!’ 14 When they saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the owner’s son. This vineyard will be his. If we kill him, then it will be ours!’ 15 So the farmers threw the son out of the vineyard and killed him.
“What will the owner of this vineyard do? 16 He will come and kill those farmers! Then he will give the vineyard to other farmers.”
The people heard this story. They said, “No! Let this never happen!”
17 But Jesus looked at them and said, “Then what does this verse mean:
‘The stone that the builders did not want
became the cornerstone’? Psalm 118:22
18 Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken. If that stone falls on you, it will crush you!”
19 The teachers of the law and the priests heard this story that Jesus told. They knew the story was about them. So they wanted to arrest Jesus at once. But they were afraid of what the people would do.
The Leaders Try to Trap Jesus
20 So they waited for the right time to get Jesus. They sent some spies who acted as if they were good men. They wanted to trap Jesus in what he said so they could hand him over to the authority and power of the governor. 21 So the spies asked Jesus, “Teacher, we know that what you say and teach is true. You teach the same to all people. You always teach the truth about God’s way. 22 Tell us, is it right that we pay taxes to Caesar or not?”
23 But Jesus knew that these men were trying to trick him. He said, 24 “Show me a coin. Whose name is on the coin? And whose picture is on it?”
They said, “Caesar’s.”
25 Jesus said to them, “Then give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s. And give to God the things that are God’s.”
26 The men were amazed at his answer. They could say nothing. They were not able to trap Jesus in anything he said before the people.
Sadducees Try to Trick Jesus
27 Some Sadducees came to Jesus. (Sadducees believe that people will not rise from death.) They asked, 28 “Teacher, Moses wrote that a man’s brother might die. He leaves a wife but no children. Then that man must marry the widow and have children for his dead brother. 29 One time there were seven brothers. The first brother married, but died. He had no children. 30 Then the second brother married the widow, and he died. 31 And the third brother married the widow, and he died. The same thing happened with all the other brothers. They all died and had no children. 32 The woman was the last to die. 33 But all seven brothers married her. So when people rise from death, whose wife will the woman be?”
34 Jesus said to the Sadducees, “On earth, people marry each other. 35 But those who will be worthy to be raised from death and live again will not marry. 36 In that life they are like angels and cannot die. They are children of God, because they have been raised from death. 37 Moses clearly showed that the dead are raised to life. When Moses wrote about the burning bush,[d] he said that the Lord is ‘the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’[e] 38 God is the God of living people, not dead people. All people are alive to God.”
39 Some of the teachers of the law said, “Teacher, your answer was good.” 40 No one was brave enough to ask him another question.
Is the Christ the Son of David?
41 Then Jesus said, “Why do people say that the Christ is the Son ofDavid? 42 In the book of Psalms, David himself says:
‘The Lord said to my Lord:
Sit by me at my right side,
43 until I put your enemies under your control.’[f] Psalm 110:1
44 David calls the Christ ‘Lord.’ But the Christ is also the son of David. How can both these things be true?”
Jesus Accuses the Leaders
45 While all the people were listening, Jesus said to his followers, 46 “Be careful of the teachers of the law. They like to walk around wearing clothes that look important. And they love for people to show respect to them in the marketplaces. They love to have the most important seats in the synagogues and at the feasts. 47 But they cheat widows and steal their houses. Then they try to make themselves look good by saying long prayers. God will punish these men very much.”
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.