Tuesday

Early in the morning, as Jesus and his disciples were walking along, they saw the fig tree withered from the root up. Peter remembered and said to Jesus, “Rabbi, look how the fig tree you cursed has dried up.”

Jesus responded to them, “Have faith in God! I assure you that whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea’—and doesn’t waver but believes that what is said will really happen—it will happen. Therefore I say to you, whatever you pray and ask for, believe that you will receive it, and it will be so for you. And whenever you stand up to pray, if you have something against anyone, forgive so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your wrongdoings.”

When Jesus entered the temple, the chief priests and elders of the people came to him as he was teaching. They asked, “What kind of authority do you have for doing these things? Who gave you this authority?”

Jesus replied, “I have a question for you. If you tell me the answer, I’ll tell you what kind of authority I have to do these things. Where did John get his authority to baptize? Did he get it from heaven or from men?”

They argued among themselves, “If we say ‘from heaven,’ he’ll say to us, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ But we can’t say ‘from men’ because we’re afraid of the crowd, since everyone thinks John was a prophet.” Then they replied, “We don’t know.”

Jesus also said to them, “Neither will I tell you what kind of authority I have to do these things.

What do you think? A man had two sons. Now he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ ‘No, I don’t want to,’ he replied. But later he changed his mind and went. The father said the same thing to the other son, who replied, ‘Yes, sir.’ But he didn’t go. Which one of these two did his father’s will?”

They said, “The first one.”

Jesus said to them, “I assure you that tax collectors and prostitutes are entering God’s kingdom ahead of you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you didn’t believe him. But tax collectors and prostitutes believed him. Yet even after you saw this, you didn’t repent and believe.

Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a fence around it, dug a winepress in it, and built a tower. Then he rented it to tenant farmers and took a trip. When it was time for harvest, he sent a servant to collect from the tenants his share of the fruit of the vineyard. he sent his servants to the tenant farmers to collect his fruit.  But the tenant farmers grabbed his servants. They beat some of them, and some of them they killed. Some of them they stoned to death.

But they grabbed the servant, beat him, and sent him away empty-handed. Again the landowner sent another servant to them, but they struck him on the head and treated him disgracefully.  He sent another one; that one they killed. The landlord sent many other servants, but the tenants beat some and killed others. Now the landowner had one son whom he loved dearly. He sent him last, thinking, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenant farmers saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come on, let’s kill him and we’ll have his inheritance.’ They grabbed him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. When the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenant farmers?”

They said, “He will totally destroy those wicked farmers and rent the vineyard to other farmers who will give him the fruit when it’s ready.”

When the people heard this, they said, “May this never happen!”

Staring at them, Jesus said, “Then what is the meaning of this text of scripture:  “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. The Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes?” Therefore, I tell you that God’s kingdom will be taken away from you and will be given to a people who produce its fruit. Whoever falls on this stone will be crushed. And the stone will crush the person it falls on.”

Now when the chief priests and the Pharisees heard the parable, they knew Jesus was talking about them. They were trying to arrest him, but they feared the crowds, who thought he was a prophet.

The legal experts and chief priests were watching Jesus closely and sent spies, some of the Pharisees and supporters of Herod, who pretended to be sincere. They wanted to trap him in his words so they could hand him over to the jurisdiction and authority of the governor. They came to him and said, “Teacher, we know that you’re genuine and you don’t worry about what people think. We know that you are correct in what you say and teach. You don’t show favoritism but teach the way of God in truth. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? Shall we pay, or shall we not pay?”

Since Jesus recognized their deception, he said to them, “Show me a coin. Whose image and inscription does it have on it?”

“Caesar’s,” they replied.

He said to them, “Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.” They couldn’t trap him in his words in front of the people. Astonished by his answer, they were speechless and overcome with wonder.

 Some Sadducees, who deny that there is a resurrection, came to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that ‘if a man’s brother dies leaving a widow but no children, the brother must marry the widow and raise up children for his brother.’” Now there were seven brothers. The first man married a woman and then died childless.  The second  and then the third brother married her. Eventually all seven married her, and they all died without leaving any children.  Finally, the woman died too. In the resurrection, whose wife will she be? All seven were married to her.”

³Jesus said to them, “People who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage. But when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.  Even Moses demonstrated that the dead are raised—in the passage about the burning bush, when he speaks of the Lord as “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” He isn’t the God of the dead but of the living.”

Some of the legal experts responded, “Teacher, you have answered well.”

One of the legal experts heard their dispute and saw how well Jesus answered them. He came over and asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?”

Jesus replied, “The most important one is ‘Hear O Israel! The Lord our God is One, and you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You will love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”

The legal expert said to him, “Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth: God is one and there is no other besides Him. And to love God with all of the heart, a full understanding, and all of one’s strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself is much more important than all kinds of burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

When Jesus saw that he had answered with wisdom, he said to him, “You aren’t far from God’s kingdom.” After that, no one dared to ask Him any more questions.

While Jesus was teaching in the temple, he said, “Why do the legal experts say that the Christ is David’s son? David himself, inspired by the Holy Spirit, said, ‘The Lord said to my lord, ‘Sit at my right side until I turn your enemies into your footstool.’’ David himself calls him ‘Lord,’ so how can he be David’s son?” The large crowd listened to him with delight.

As he was teaching, he said, “Watch out for the legal experts. They like to walk around in long robes. They want to be greeted with honor in the markets. They long for places of honor in the synagogues and at banquets. They cheat widows out of their homes, and say long prayers to show off. They will be judged most harshly.”

Looking up, Jesus saw rich people throwing their gifts into the collection box for the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow throw in two small copper coins worth a penny. He said, “I assure you that this poor widow has put in more than them all. All of them are giving out of their spare change. But she from her hopeless poverty has given everything she had to live on.”

Jesus was teaching daily in the temple. The chief priests, the legal experts, and the foremost leaders among the people were seeking to kill him. However, they couldn’t find a way to do it because all the people were enthralled with what they heard.