Bible Reading Plan – Day 341

₁Then Jesus spoke to them in parables: “Once there was a man who planted a vineyard, put a fence round it, dug a hole for the winepress, and built a watchtower. Then he let out the vineyard to tenants and left home on a journey. ₂When the time came to gather the grapes, he sent a slave to the tenants to receive from them his share of the harvest. ₃The tenants seized the slave, beat him, and sent him back without a thing. ₄Then the owner sent another slave; the tenants beat him over the head and treated him shamefully. ₅The owner sent another slave, and they killed him; and they treated many others the same way, beating some and killing others. ₆The only one left to send was the man's own dear son. Last of all, then, he sent his son to the tenants. ‘I am sure they will respect my son,’ he said. ₇But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the owner's son. Come on, let's kill him, and his property will be ours!’ ₈So they seized the son and killed him and threw his body out of the vineyard.

₉“What, then, will the owner of the vineyard do?” asked Jesus. “He will come and kill those tenants and hand the vineyard over to others. ₁₀Surely you have read this scripture:

₁₂The Jewish leaders tried to arrest Jesus, because they knew that he had told this parable against them. But they were afraid of the crowd, so they left him and went away.

₁₃Some Pharisees and some members of Herod's party were sent to Jesus to trap him with questions. ₁₄They came to him and said, “Teacher, we know that you tell the truth, without worrying about what people think. You pay no attention to anyone's status, but teach the truth about God's will for people. Tell us, is it against our Law to pay taxes to the Roman Emperor? Should we pay them or not?”

₁₅But Jesus saw through their trick and answered, “Why are you trying to trap me? Bring a silver coin, and let me see it.”

₁₆They brought him one, and he asked, “Whose face and name are these?”

“The Emperor's,” they answered.

₁₇So Jesus said, “Well, then, pay the Emperor what belongs to the Emperor, and pay God what belongs to God.”

And they were amazed at Jesus.

₁₈Then some Sadducees, who say that people will not rise from death, came to Jesus and said, ₁₉“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.’ ₂₀Once there were seven brothers; the eldest got married and died without having children. ₂₁Then the second one married the woman, and he also died without having children. The same thing happened to the third brother, ₂₂and then to the rest: all seven brothers married the woman and died without having children. Last of all, the woman died. ₂₃Now, when all the dead rise to life on the day of resurrection, whose wife will she be? All seven of them had married her.”

₂₄Jesus answered them, “How wrong you are! And do you know why? It is because you don't know the Scriptures or God's power. ₂₅For when the dead rise to life, they will be like the angels in heaven and will not marry. ₂₆Now, as for the dead being raised: haven't you ever read in the Book of Moses the passage about the burning bush? There it is written that God said to Moses, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ ₂₇He is the God of the living, not of the dead. You are completely wrong!”

₂₈A teacher of the Law was there who heard the discussion. He saw that Jesus had given the Sadducees a good answer, so he came to him with a question: “Which commandment is the most important of all?”

₂₉Jesus replied, “The most important one is this: ‘Listen, Israel! The Lord our God is the only Lord. ₃₀Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ ₃₁The second most important commandment is this: ‘Love your neighbour as you love yourself.’ There is no other commandment more important than these two.”

₃₂The teacher of the Law said to Jesus, “Well done, Teacher! It is true, as you say, that only the Lord is God and that there is no other god but he. ₃₃And to love God with all your heart and with all your mind and with all your strength, and to love your neighbour as yourself, is more important than to offer animals and other sacrifices to God.”

₃₄Jesus noticed how wise his answer was, and so he told him, “You are not far from the Kingdom of God.”

After this nobody dared to ask Jesus any more questions.

₃₅As Jesus was teaching in the Temple, he asked the question, “How can the teachers of the Law say that the Messiah will be the descendant of David? ₃₆The Holy Spirit inspired David to say:

A large crowd was listening to Jesus gladly. ₃₈As he taught them, he said, “Watch out for the teachers of the Law, who like to walk around in their long robes and be greeted with respect in the market place, ₃₉who choose the reserved seats in the synagogues and the best places at feasts. ₄₀They 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!”

₄₁As Jesus sat near the temple treasury, he watched the people as they dropped in their money. Many rich men dropped in a lot of money; ₄₂then a poor widow came along and dropped in two little copper coins, worth about a penny. ₄₃He called his disciples together and said to them, “I tell you that this poor widow put more in the offering box than all the others. ₄₄For the others put in what they had to spare of their riches; but she, poor as she is, put in all she had — she gave all she had to live on.”

₁As Jesus was leaving the Temple, one of his disciples said, “Look, Teacher! What wonderful stones and buildings!”

₂Jesus answered, “You see these great buildings? Not a single stone here will be left in its place; every one of them will be thrown down.”

₃Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, across from the Temple, when Peter, James, John, and Andrew came to him in private. ₄“Tell us when this will be,” they said, “and tell us what will happen to show that the time has come for all these things to take place.”

₅Jesus said to them, “Be on guard, and don't let anyone deceive you. ₆Many men, claiming to speak for me, will come and say, ‘I am he!’ and they will deceive many people. ₇And don't be troubled when you hear the noise of battles close by and news of battles far away. Such things must happen, but they do not mean that the end has come. ₈Countries will fight each other; kingdoms will attack one another. There will be earthquakes everywhere, and there will be famines. These things are like the first pains of childbirth.

₉“You yourselves must be on guard. You will be arrested and taken to court. You will be beaten in the synagogues; you will stand before rulers and kings for my sake to tell them the Good News. ₁₀But before the end comes, the gospel must be preached to all peoples. ₁₁And when you are arrested and taken to court, do not worry beforehand about what you are going to say; when the time comes, say whatever is then given to you. For the words you speak will not be yours; they will come from the Holy Spirit. ₁₂Men will hand over their own brothers to be put to death, and fathers will do the same to their children. Children will turn against their parents and have them put to death. ₁₃Everyone will hate you because of me. But whoever holds out to the end will be saved.

₁₄“You will see ‘The Awful Horror’ standing in the place where he should not be.” (Note to the reader: be sure to understand what this means!) “Then those who are in Judea must run away to the hills. ₁₅Someone who is on the roof of his house must not lose time by going down into the house to get anything to take with him. ₁₆Someone who is in the field must not go back to the house for his cloak. ₁₇How terrible it will be in those days for women who are pregnant and for mothers with little babies! ₁₈Pray to God that these things will not happen in the winter! ₁₉For the trouble of those days will be far worse than any the world has ever known from the very beginning when God created the world until the present time. Nor will there ever be anything like it again. ₂₀But the Lord has reduced the number of those days; if he had not, nobody would survive. For the sake of his chosen people, however, he has reduced those days.

₂₁“Then, if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘Look, there he is!’ — do not believe him. ₂₂For false Messiahs and false prophets will appear. They will perform miracles and wonders in order to deceive even God's chosen people, if possible. ₂₃Be on your guard! I have told you everything before the time comes.

₂₄“In the days after that time of trouble the sun will grow dark, the moon will no longer shine, ₂₅the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers in space will be driven from their courses. ₂₆Then the Son of Man will appear, coming in the clouds with great power and glory. ₂₇He will send the angels out to the four corners of the earth to gather God's chosen people from one end of the world to the other.

₂₈“Let the fig tree teach you a lesson. When its branches become green and tender and it starts putting out leaves, you know that summer is near. ₂₉In the same way, when you see these things happening, you will know that the time is near, ready to begin. ₃₀Remember that all these things will happen before the people now living have all died. ₃₁Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

₃₂“No one knows, however, when that day or hour will come — neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son; only the Father knows. ₃₃Be on watch, be alert, for you do not know when the time will come. ₃₄It will be like a man who goes away from home on a journey and leaves his servants in charge, after giving to each one his own work to do and after telling the doorkeeper to keep watch. ₃₅Be on guard, then, because you do not know when the master of the house is coming — it might be in the evening or at midnight or before dawn or at sunrise. ₃₆If he comes suddenly, he must not find you asleep. ₃₇What I say to you, then, I say to all: watch!”