Bible Reading Plan – Day 297

₁Jesus went on into Jericho and was passing through. ₂There was a chief tax collector there named Zacchaeus, who was rich. ₃He was trying to see who Jesus was, but he was a little man and could not see Jesus because of the crowd. ₄So he ran ahead of the crowd and climbed a sycomore tree to see Jesus, who was going to pass that way. ₅When Jesus came to that place, he looked up and said to Zacchaeus, “Hurry down, Zacchaeus, because I must stay in your house today.”

₆Zacchaeus hurried down and welcomed him with great joy. ₇All the people who saw it started grumbling, “This man has gone as a guest to the home of a sinner!”

₈Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Listen, sir! I will give half my belongings to the poor, and if I have cheated anyone, I will pay back four times as much.”

₉Jesus said to him, “Salvation has come to this house today, for this man, also, is a descendant of Abraham. ₁₀The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

₁₁While the people were listening to this, Jesus continued and told them a parable. He was now almost at Jerusalem, and they supposed that the Kingdom of God was just about to appear. ₁₂So he said, “There was once a man of high rank who was going to a country far away to be made king, after which he planned to come back home. ₁₃Before he left, he called his ten servants and gave them each a gold coin and told them, ‘See what you can earn with this while I am gone.’ ₁₄Now, his own people hated him, and so they sent messengers after him to say, ‘We don't want this man to be our king.’

₁₅“The man was made king and came back. At once he ordered his servants to appear before him, in order to find out how much they had earned. ₁₆The first one came and said, ‘Sir, I have earned ten gold coins with the one you gave me.’ ₁₇‘Well done,’ he said; ‘you are a good servant! Since you were faithful in small matters, I will put you in charge of ten cities.’ ₁₈The second servant came and said, ‘Sir, I have earned five gold coins with the one you gave me.’ ₁₉To this one he said, ‘You will be in charge of five cities.’

₂₀“Another servant came and said, ‘Sir, here is your gold coin; I kept it hidden in a handkerchief. ₂₁I was afraid of you, because you are a hard man. You take what is not yours and reap what you did not sow.’ ₂₂He said to him, ‘You bad servant! I will use your own words to condemn you! You know that I am a hard man, taking what is not mine and reaping what I have not sown. ₂₃Well, then, why didn't you put my money in the bank? Then I would have received it back with interest when I returned.’

₂₄“Then he said to those who were standing there, ‘Take the gold coin away from him and give it to the servant who has ten coins.’ ₂₅But they said to him, ‘Sir, he already has ten coins!’ ₂₆‘I tell you,’ he replied, ‘that to all those who have something, even more will be given; but those who have nothing, even the little that they have will be taken away from them. ₂₇Now, as for those enemies of mine who did not want me to be their king, bring them here and kill them in my presence!’ ”

₂₈After Jesus said this, he went on ahead of them to Jerusalem. ₂₉As he came near Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, he sent two disciples ahead ₃₀with these instructions: “Go to the village there ahead of you; as you go in, you will find a colt tied up that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. ₃₁If someone asks you why you are untying it, tell him that the Master needs it.”

₃₂They went on their way and found everything just as Jesus had told them. ₃₃As they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying it?”

₃₄“The Master needs it,” they answered, ₃₅and they took the colt to Jesus. Then they threw their cloaks over the animal and helped Jesus get on. ₃₆As he rode on, people spread their cloaks on the road.

₃₇When he came near Jerusalem, at the place where the road went down the Mount of Olives, the large crowd of his disciples began to thank God and praise him in loud voices for all the great things that they had seen: ₃₈“God bless the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory to God!”

₃₉Then some of the Pharisees in the crowd spoke to Jesus. “Teacher,” they said, “command your disciples to be quiet!”

₄₀Jesus answered, “I tell you that if they keep quiet, the stones themselves will start shouting.”

₄₁He came closer to the city, and when he saw it, he wept over it, ₄₂saying, “If you only knew today what is needed for peace! But now you cannot see it! ₄₃The time will come when your enemies will surround you with barricades, blockade you, and close in on you from every side. ₄₄They will completely destroy you and the people within your walls; not a single stone will they leave in its place, because you did not recognize the time when God came to save you!”

₄₅Then Jesus went into the Temple and began to drive out the merchants, ₄₆saying to them, “It is written in the Scriptures that God said, ‘My Temple will be a house of prayer.’ But you have turned it into a hideout for thieves!”

₄₇Every day Jesus taught in the Temple. The chief priests, the teachers of the Law, and the leaders of the people wanted to kill him, ₄₈but they could not find a way to do it, because all the people kept listening to him, not wanting to miss a single word.

₁One day when Jesus was in the Temple teaching the people and preaching the Good News, the chief priests and the teachers of the Law, together with the elders, came ₂and said to him, “Tell us, what right have you to do these things? Who gave you this right?”

₃Jesus answered them, “Now let me ask you a question. Tell me, ₄did John's right to baptize come from God or from human beings?”

₅They started to argue among themselves, “What shall we say? If we say, ‘From God,’ he will say, ‘Why, then, did you not believe John?’ ₆But if we say ‘From human beings,’ this whole crowd here will stone us, because they are convinced that John was a prophet.” ₇So they answered, “We don't know where it came from.”

₈And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you, then, by what right I do these things.”

₉Then Jesus told the people this parable: “There was once a man who planted a vineyard, let it out to tenants, and then left home for a long time. ₁₀When the time came to gather the grapes, he sent a slave to the tenants to receive from them his share of the harvest. But the tenants beat the slave and sent him back without a thing. ₁₁So he sent another slave; but the tenants beat him also, treated him shamefully, and sent him back without a thing. ₁₂Then he sent a third slave; the tenants wounded him, too, and threw him out. ₁₃Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my own dear son; surely they will respect him!’ ₁₄But when the tenants saw him, they said to one another, ‘This is the owner's son. Let's kill him, and his property will be ours!’ ₁₅So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

“What, then, will the owner of the vineyard do to the tenants?” Jesus asked. ₁₆“He will come and kill those men, and hand the vineyard over to other tenants.”

When the people heard this, they said, “Surely not!”

₁₇Jesus looked at them and asked, “What, then, does this scripture mean?

₁₉The teachers of the Law and the chief priests tried to arrest Jesus on the spot, because they knew that he had told this parable against them; but they were afraid of the people. ₂₀So they looked for an opportunity. They bribed some men to pretend they were sincere, and they sent them to trap Jesus with questions, so that they could hand him over to the authority and power of the Roman Governor. ₂₁These spies said to Jesus, “Teacher, we know that what you say and teach is right. We know that you pay no attention to anyone's status, but teach the truth about God's will for people. ₂₂Tell us, is it against our Law for us to pay taxes to the Roman Emperor, or not?”

₂₃But Jesus saw through their trick and said to them, ₂₄“Show me a silver coin. Whose face and name are these on it?”

“The Emperor's,” they answered.

₂₅So Jesus said, “Well, then, pay the Emperor what belongs to the Emperor, and pay God what belongs to God.”

₂₆There before the people they could not catch him out in anything, so they kept quiet, amazed at his answer.

₂₇Then some Sadducees, who say that people will not rise from death, came to Jesus and said, ₂₈“Teacher, Moses wrote this law for us: ‘If a man dies and leaves a wife but no children, that man's brother must marry the widow so that they can have children who will be considered the dead man's children.’ ₂₉Once there were seven brothers; the eldest got married and died without having children. ₃₀Then the second one married the woman, ₃₁and then the third. The same thing happened to all seven — they died without having children. ₃₂Last of all, the woman died. ₃₃Now, on the day when the dead rise to life, whose wife will she be? All seven of them had married her.”

₃₄Jesus answered them, “The men and women of this age marry, ₃₅but the men and women who are worthy to rise from death and live in the age to come will not then marry. ₃₆They will be like angels and cannot die. They are the children of God, because they have risen from death. ₃₇And Moses clearly proves that the dead are raised to life. In the passage about the burning bush he speaks of the Lord as ‘the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ ₃₈He is the God of the living, not of the dead, for to him all are alive.”

₃₉Some of the teachers of the Law spoke up, “A good answer, Teacher!” ₄₀For they did not dare ask him any more questions.

₄₁Jesus asked them, “How can it be said that the Messiah will be the descendant of David? ₄₂For David himself says in the book of Psalms,

₄₅As all the people listened to him, Jesus said to his disciples, ₄₆“Be on your guard against the teachers of the Law, who like to walk about in their long robes and love to be greeted with respect in the market place; who choose the reserved seats in the synagogues and the best places at feasts; ₄₇who take advantage of widows and rob them of their homes, and then make a show of saying long prayers! Their punishment will be all the worse!”