Jesus rides on a donkey into Jerusalem
1When Jesus and his disciples came near Jerusalem, they went to the town of Bethphage on the Mount_of_Olives. Jesus sent 2 of his disciples 2and He said to them: ‘When you go into this town, you will see a donkey and her foal that are tied. Take the donkeys and bring them to Me. 3And when someone asks you why you are taking the donkeys, you must say: “The Lord needs them, but He will bring them back.” ’
4This happened because God had sent the prophet to say these words. 5He said:
‘Say to the people of Zion:
Look, your king is coming to you.
He is humble.
He is riding on a donkey.’
6The 2 disciples went and they did what Jesus had told them to do. 7The disciples took the donkey and its foal to Jesus, then they put some of their clothes onto the donkeys and Jesus sat on the donkey. 8There were many people and they put some of their clothes onto the road. Other people cut off branches from trees and they put them onto the road for Jesus to ride over. 9A big crowd of people walked in front of Jesus and other people followed Him. They all shouted_loudly and said:
‘Praise the son of David.
Praise this man who comes
to do the work of the Lord.
Praise God in the highest heaven.’
10When Jesus came into Jerusalem, all the people in the city were amazed and they asked: ‘Who is this Man?’ 11Some people said: ‘This is the Prophet Jesus from the town of Nazareth in the province of Galilee.’
Jesus chases away people from the temple-ground
12Jesus went to the temple-ground and He chased out all the people who were selling or buying things there. He pushed over the tables of the people who exchanged money and the chairs of the people who were selling doves. 13Jesus said: ‘In the Old_Testament it is written:
“God said: The people will say
my house is a place where people pray.
But you have changed it.
It is now a place where thieves come together.” ’
14There were blind and crippled people who came to Jesus in the temple and He healed them. 15But the chief_priests and the teachers_of_the_Laws were angry when they saw the miracles that Jesus did and when they heard the children shouting: ‘Praise the Son of David.’
16They said to Jesus: ‘Do You hear what the children say?’ Jesus said to them: ‘Yes, I hear it and that is what the Old_Testament says. It is written: “You cause even small children to sing about your power.” ’
17Jesus went out of Jerusalem to the town of Bethany and He stayed there that night.
Jesus curses a fig tree
18Early the next morning, Jesus came back to Jerusalem. He was hungry. 19He saw a fig tree next to the road and He went there. When He came to the tree, He saw there were no figs, only leaves. Jesus said to the tree: ‘You will never have any fruit again.’ And immediately the fig tree died. 20When the disciples saw how quickly the tree had died, they were surprised and asked: ‘Why did the fig tree die so quickly?’ 21Jesus answered: ‘I say this to you and it is sure: If you believe and you don't doubt, then you can do the same as what I did to the fig tree. You will be able to do more. If you say to this mountain: “Get up and throw yourself into the sea,” then it will happen. 22And if you believe when you pray and ask God for something, then He will give you what you ask for.’
Who said Jesus may do these things?
23Jesus went back to the temple-ground and He started teaching the people. The chief_priests and family leaders came to Him and they asked Him: ‘Why do You think You may do these things? Who said You may do these things?’ 24But Jesus said to them: ‘I will ask you one question. If you answer Me, then I will tell you who said I must do these things. 25John the Baptist came and he baptised people. Who sent him to do it? Was it God or was it the people?’
The chief_priests and family leaders talked to each other and said: ‘If we say it was God who sent him, then Jesus will ask us: “Why did you not believe what John said?” 26But we are afraid that the people will be angry with us if we say it was people who sent John to baptise, because everyone said John was a prophet.’
27Then the chief_priests and family leaders said to Jesus: ‘We do not know who sent him.’ And Jesus said to them: ‘Then I will not tell you who sent Me to do these things.’
The parable of the 2 sons
28Jesus said:
‘What do you think? Who was right and who was wrong? A man had 2 sons. He went to his first son and said to him: “My son, go and work in my vineyard today.”
29His son said: “No, I will not go.” But later he felt sorry and he went to work in the vineyard. 30The man then went to his 2nd son and he also asked him to go and work in the vineyard. His son answered: “Yes, I will go.” But he did not go and work in the vineyard.’
31Jesus asked the chief_priests and family leaders: ‘Which son did what his father wanted?’ They said: ‘The first son.’
Jesus said to them: ‘I tell you this and it is sure: The tax-collectors and the prostitutes will go in where God in heaven rules over all. They will go in before you, 32because John the Baptist came to show you how God wants you to live and you did not believe him, but the tax-collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And when you saw that, you were not sorry. You did not believe John and you did not turn your lives to God.’
The parable of the vineyard
33Jesus said:
‘Listen to another parable. A man planted a lot of grape trees in a vineyard. He was the owner. He built a wall around the vineyard and he built a wine-press. He also built a high watchtower so that someone could look after the grapes. Then he rented out the vineyard to other farmers and he went away.
34When it was time to pick the grapes, he sent his slaves to the farmers who rented his vineyard and asked them to give him the grapes that they had to give him. 35The farmers grabbed his slaves. They beat one and they killed one, and then they killed another one with stones. 36The owner of the vineyard sent out more slaves than he had sent the first time, but the farmers did the same to these slaves.
37At last the owner sent his son to the farmers, because he thought that they would respect his son. 38But when the farmers saw that it was his son, they said to themselves: “This son will inherit all the owner's money and things when he dies. Let us kill him, then we will get everything.” 39They grabbed the owner's son and they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.’
40Jesus asked: ‘What do you think? When the owner of that vineyard comes, what do you think he will do to those farmers?’ 41The chief_priests and family leaders said to Jesus: ‘He will punish those bad farmers. He will kill them and give the vineyard to other people who will give him his fruit at the right time.’
42Jesus said to them: ‘Did you read these words in the Old_Testament?
“The stone that the builders
did not want to use
is now the most important stone in the building.
It is something that the Lord has done
and it is wonderful for us.”
43That is why I tell you: You will not go in where God rules. Other people will go in there. These are the people who will do what the Owner asks them to do. 44Everyone who falls over this stone will die. And if that stone falls on anyone, the stone will kill him.’
45When the chief_priests and the Pharisees heard these parables of Jesus, they knew that Jesus was talking about them. They knew that they were the bad farmers. 46They tried to arrest Jesus but they were afraid of the people, because the people thought Jesus was a prophet.
