Jesus’ Authority Questioned
1. And it happened, on one of the days, as he was teaching the people in the temple and proclaiming the good news, the chief priests and the scribes with the elders came.
2. And they spoke to him, saying, “Tell us, by what authority do you do these things? Or who is it that gave you this authority?”
3. And he answered and said to them, “I will also ask you a question. Tell me:
4. the baptism of John, was it from heaven, or from men?”
5. And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’
6. But if we say, ‘From men,’ all the people will stone us, because they are persuaded that John was a prophet.”
7. And they answered that they did not know whence it was.
8. And Jesus said to them, “Neither do I tell you by what authority I do these things.”
The Parable of the Wicked Tenants
9. And he began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard and rented it to some farmers and went abroad for a long time.
10. And at the season, he sent a servant to the farmers, that they might give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. And the farmers beat him and sent him away empty-handed.
11. And he sent another servant. And they also beat him and treated him shamefully and sent him away empty-handed.
12. And he sent yet a third. And they also wounded him and cast him out.
13. Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son. Perhaps they will respect him.’
14. But the farmers, seeing him, reasoned among themselves, saying, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours.’
15. And they cast him out of the vineyard and killed him. What, then, will the owner of the vineyard do to them?
16. He will come and destroy these farmers and give the vineyard to others.” And hearing this, they said, “May it never be!”
17. But he looked at them and said, “What then is this that is written: ‘The stone which the builders rejected, this has become the head of the corner’?
18. Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken, but on whomever it falls, it will crush him.”
19. And the scribes and the chief priests sought to lay hands on him that very hour, and they feared the people, for they perceived that he had spoken this parable against them.
Paying Taxes to Caesar
20. And they watched him and sent spies, who pretended to be righteous, that they might catch him in something he said, so that they might deliver him to the authority and the power of the governor.
21. And they asked him, saying, “Teacher, we know that you speak and teach rightly and do not accept the person of anyone, but teach the way of God truthfully.
22. Is it lawful for us to give tribute to Caesar, or not?”
23. But he perceived their craftiness and said to them,
24. “Show me a denarius. Whose likeness and inscription does it have?” They said, “Caesar’s.”
25. And he said to them, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
26. And they could not catch him in what he said before the people. And marvelling at his answer, they became silent.
The Resurrection Question
27. And there came to him some of the Sadducees, who say that there is no resurrection. And they asked him,
28. saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote to us, ‘If a man’s brother dies, having a wife and leaves no children, his brother shall take his wife and raise up offspring to his brother.’
29. Now there were seven brothers. And the first took a wife and died without offspring.
30. And the second took her as wife and died without offspring.
31. And the third likewise. And the seven left no offspring.
32. Last of all, the woman also died.
33. Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife will she be? For the seven had her as wife.”
34. And Jesus said to them, “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage.
35. But those who are accounted worthy to obtain that age and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage.
36. For they cannot die anymore, for they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.
37. But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed at the bush, when he calls the Lord the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.
38. Now he is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for all live to him.”
39. And some of the scribes answered and said, “Teacher, you have spoken well.”
40. And they no longer dared to ask him anything.
The Greatest Commandment
41. And he said to them, “How do they say that the Christ is David’s son?
42. For David himself says in the book of Psalms, ‘The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand,
43. until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.’
44. Therefore, David calls him Lord. How then is he his son?”
Warnings Against the Scribes
45. And in the hearing of all the people, he said to his disciples,
46. “Beware of the scribes, who desire to walk around in long robes and love greetings in the marketplaces and the chief seats in the synagogues and the first chairs at feasts,
47. who devour widows’ houses and for a pretext make long prayers. These will receive greater condemnation.”
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