M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

20 One day Jesus was teaching the people in the temple. He was telling them God's good news. The chief priests and the scribes came to him with the leaders.

² They said to him, `Tell us what right you have to do these things. Who gave you the right to do them?'

³ He answered, `I will ask you a question also. Tell me this.

⁴ Who gave John the right to baptise people? Did God or did men give it to him?'

⁵ They talked it over together. They said, `If we say, "God gave John the right to do it," he will say, "Then why did you not believe him?"

⁶ But if we say, "Men gave him the right to do it," then the people will kill us with stones. They believe that John was a prophet of God.'

⁷ So they answered Jesus, `We do not know who gave him the right to do it.'

⁸ Then Jesus said to them, `Neither will I tell you what right I have to do these things.'

⁹ Then Jesus began to tell the people this story. `A man planted a farm. He let some men use the farm. They paid him money for the rent. Then he went to a country far away and stayed a long time.

¹⁰ `At harvest time the owner sent one of his servants to the men who used the farm. He wanted to have some fruit from the farm. But the men beat the servant and sent him away without any fruit.

¹¹ So he sent another servant. They beat this one also, and did wrong things to him. And they sent him away without any fruit.

¹² He sent a servant the third time. They hurt this one also and threw him out of the farm.

¹³ `Then the man who owned the farm said, "What shall I do? I will send my dear son. Maybe they will respect him."

¹⁴ `But when the men saw him they said to each other, "This is the one who will have everything when his father dies. Let us kill him. Then everything will belong to us."

¹⁵ They dragged him off the farm and killed him. `What will the man who owned the farm do to them?

¹⁶ He will come back and kill those men. And he will give the farm to other men to use.' When the chief priests and scribes heard this, they said, `May it not be so!'

¹⁷ `But Jesus looked right at them. He said, `What about this writing then? "The stone which the builders would not use is now the chief corner stone."

¹⁸ Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces. But if that stone falls on anyone, it will crush him.'

¹⁹ The scribes and the chief priests wanted to catch Jesus right then but they feared the people. They understood that he had told this story against them.

²⁰ So they watched for a chance to catch him. And they sent men to spy on him. These men acted as if they were good men. They did this because they wanted to catch him in something that he said. They wanted to give him over to the ruler who would judge and punish him.

²¹ So they asked Jesus, `Teacher, we know that you talk and teach what is right. You do not fear any person. But you teach the true way of God.

²² Is it right to pay money as taxes to Caesar or is it not?'

²³ He knew they were trying to get him into trouble.

²⁴ So he said, `Show me a piece of money. Whose picture and name are on it?' They said, `Caesar's'

²⁵ Then he said to them, `So give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God.'

²⁶ They were not able to catch him in anything he said in front of the people. They were surprised at his answer and they could not say anything.

²⁷ Some of the Sadducees came to Jesus. (They say that people do not rise from death.)

²⁸ They came to ask Jesus a question. `Teacher,' they said, `Moses gave us this law: "If a man dies and leaves a wife but no children, then his brother must marry the wife and raise a family for his brother."

²⁹ There were seven brothers. The first one married. He died and left no children.

³⁰ The second one married the wife.

³¹ Then the third one married her. All seven brothers married her. They all had no children and they died.

³² Last of all, the woman died also.

³³ Now then, when people rise from death, whose wife will she be? All seven of them had married her.'

³⁴ Jesus said to them, `Men and women in this world marry.

³⁵ But men and women who are good enough to have a place in the next world and to be raised from death do not marry.

³⁶ They cannot die again. They are like angels. They are God's children because they have been raised from death.

³⁷ Even Moses showed that people do rise from death. It is in his book where we read about the small tree which burned. Moses says that the Lord is the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.

³⁸ He is not the God of dead people, but of living people. All people are alive to him.'

³⁹ Some of the scribes said to him, `Teacher, what you say is right.'

⁴⁰ After that, people were afraid to ask him any more questions.

⁴¹ But Jesus asked them, `How can people say that Christ is David's son?

⁴³ David himself says in the book of the Psalms, "The Lord said to my Lord, sit beside me until I make you master over your enemies."

⁴⁴ So David calls Christ his Lord. How can Christ be David's son?'

⁴⁵ Then Jesus talked to his disciples while all the people could hear him.

⁴⁶ He said, `Take care. Do not let the scribes fool you. They like to walk about dressed in long gowns. They want people to greet them in the market. They want to have the front seats in the meeting houses. They want to sit in the best places at feasts.

⁴⁷ They take away the homes of women whose husbands are dead. They cover up their wrong ways by talking to God a long time. They will be punished more!'

5 Our body is the house in which our spirit lives here on earth. When that house is destroyed, then God will give us another house. That house is not made by man's hand. But God made it. It will last for ever in heaven.

² While we are in the house we have now, we are always crying and wanting to have our house from heaven.

³ When we have moved into it, then we are sure that we will never be left without a house.

⁴ While we are in this house, we cry and are troubled. It is not that we want to move out of this house, but we want to move into the other one. Then this body which will die will be changed into one which will live.

⁵ God is the one who has made us ready for this change. He has already given us the Spirit. This is the first part of what we are to receive, and it proves that we will get more.

⁶ So we always feel sure. While we live in our bodies we are not in our house with the Lord. We know that.

⁷ We do not see these things, but we believe them.

⁸ We feel sure that we will want to leave this body and go to live with the Lord.

⁹ So it does not matter if we are living here or go to live there. Wherever we are we want to please the Lord.

¹⁰ We must all stand before Christ to be judged. Then we will receive pay. If we have done well, our pay will be good. If we have not done well, our pay will not be good.

¹¹ We know that the Lord must be feared, so we try to get people to believe. God knows what we are and what we do. And we hope that in your hearts you, too, know.

¹² No, we are not praising ourselves again. But we are telling you this so that you may really be proud of us. Then you will be ready to answer people who are proud of themselves. They are proud of the things which can be seen. But in their hearts they have nothing to be proud of us.

¹³ If we are crazy, it is for God's sake. If we are right in our minds, it is for your sakes.

¹⁴ The love of Christ makes us do what we do to win men. We believe that one man died for all people. [To God] it is as if we all died with him.

¹⁵ He died for all, so that those who live would not live to please themselves. But they should live to please him who gave his life for them and rose again from death.

¹⁶ So then we no longer know people by what we see on the outside. There was a time when we knew Christ that way, but now we do not know him that way any longer.

¹⁷ So, if any man belongs to Christ, he is a new person. His old life has gone. You see, he has begun a new life.

¹⁸ But it is God who has done all this. He sent Christ to make peace with us and to bring us back to himself. Now he has given us the work of bringing other people back to God.

¹⁹ We are not looking at things that can be seen, but at things that cannot be seen. The things which can be seen last only a little while. But the things which cannot be seen last for ever.

²⁰ So we are messengers for Christ. God is using us to call people. So we are standing here for Christ and begging people, `Come back to God!'

²¹ Christ did no wrong thing. But for our sake God put the blame for our wrong ways on Christ. So now God sees us as good, because we are in Christ.