Matthew 25; Matthew 26

Matthew 25

1 "At that time the Kingdom of heaven will be like this. Once there were ten young women who took their oil lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.

2 Five of them were foolish, and the other five were wise.

3 The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any extra oil with them,

4 while the wise ones took containers full of oil for their lamps.

5 The bridegroom was late in coming, so they began to nod and fall asleep.

6 "It was already midnight when the cry rang out, "Here is the bridegroom! Come and meet him!'

7 The ten young women woke up and trimmed their lamps.

8 Then the foolish ones said to the wise ones, "Let us have some of your oil, because our lamps are going out.'

9 "No, indeed,' the wise ones answered, "there is not enough for you and for us. Go to the store and buy some for yourselves.'

10 So the foolish ones went off to buy some oil; and while they were gone, the bridegroom arrived. The five who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast, and the door was closed.

11 "Later the others arrived. "Sir, sir! Let us in!' they cried out.

12 "Certainly not! I don't know you,' the bridegroom answered."

13 And Jesus concluded, "Watch out, then, because you do not know the day or the hour.

14 "At that time the Kingdom of heaven will be like this. Once there was a man who was about to leave home on a trip; he called his servants and put them in charge of his property.

15 He gave to each one according to his ability: to one he gave five thousand gold coins, to another he gave two thousand, and to another he gave one thousand. Then he left on his trip.

16 The servant who had received five thousand coins went at once and invested his money and earned another five thousand.

17 In the same way the servant who had received two thousand coins earned another two thousand.

18 But the servant who had received one thousand coins went off, dug a hole in the ground, and hid his master's money.

19 "After a long time the master of those servants came back and settled accounts with them.

20 The servant who had received five thousand coins came in and handed over the other five thousand. "You gave me five thousand coins, sir,' he said. "Look! Here are another five thousand that I have earned.'

21 "Well done, you good and faithful servant!' said his master. "You have been faithful in managing small amounts, so I will put you in charge of large amounts. Come on in and share my happiness!'

22 Then the servant who had been given two thousand coins came in and said, "You gave me two thousand coins, sir. Look! Here are another two thousand that I have earned.'

23 "Well done, you good and faithful servant!' said his master. "You have been faithful in managing small amounts, so I will put you in charge of large amounts. Come on in and share my happiness!'

24 Then the servant who had received one thousand coins came in and said, "Sir, I know you are a hard man; you reap harvests where you did not plant, and you gather crops where you did not scatter seed.

25 I was afraid, so I went off and hid your money in the ground. Look! Here is what belongs to you.'

26 "You bad and lazy servant!' his master said. "You knew, did you, that I reap harvests where I did not plant, and gather crops where I did not scatter seed?

27 Well, then, you should have deposited my money in the bank, and I would have received it all back with interest when I returned.

28 Now, take the money away from him and give it to the one who has ten thousand coins.

29 For to every person who has something, even more will be given, and he will have more than enough; but the person who has nothing, even the little that he has will be taken away from him.

30 As for this useless servant - throw him outside in the darkness; there he will cry and gnash his teeth.'

31 "When the Son of Man comes as King and all the angels with him, he will sit on his royal throne,

32 and the people of all the nations will be gathered before him. Then he will divide them into two groups, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.

33 He will put the righteous people at his right and the others at his left.

34 Then the King will say to the people on his right, "Come, you that are blessed by my Father! Come and possess the kingdom which has been prepared for you ever since the creation of the world.

35 I was hungry and you fed me, thirsty and you gave me a drink; I was a stranger and you received me in your homes,

36 naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you took care of me, in prison and you visited me.'

37 The righteous will then answer him, "When, Lord, did we ever see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you a drink?

38 When did we ever see you a stranger and welcome you in our homes, or naked and clothe you?

39 When did we ever see you sick or in prison, and visit you?'

40 The King will reply, "I tell you, whenever you did this for one of the least important of these followers of mine, you did it for me!'

41 "Then he will say to those on his left, "Away from me, you that are under God's curse! Away to the eternal fire which has been prepared for the Devil and his angels!

42 I was hungry but you would not feed me, thirsty but you would not give me a drink;

43 I was a stranger but you would not welcome me in your homes, naked but you would not clothe me; I was sick and in prison but you would not take care of me.'

44 Then they will answer him, "When, Lord, did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and we would not help you?'

45 The King will reply, "I tell you, whenever you refused to help one of these least important ones, you refused to help me.'

46 These, then, will be sent off to eternal punishment, but the righteous will go to eternal life."

Matthew 26

1 When Jesus had finished teaching all these things, he said to his disciples,

2 "In two days, as you know, it will be the Passover Festival, and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified."

3 Then the chief priests and the elders met together in the palace of Caiaphas, the High Priest,

4 and made plans to arrest Jesus secretly and put him to death.

5 "We must not do it during the festival," they said, "or the people will riot."

6 Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon, a man who had suffered from a dreaded skin disease.

7 While Jesus was eating, a woman came to him with an alabaster jar filled with an expensive perfume, which she poured on his head.

8 The disciples saw this and became angry. "Why all this waste?" they asked.

9 "This perfume could have been sold for a large amount and the money given to the poor!"

10 Jesus knew what they were saying, and so he said to them, "Why are you bothering this woman? It is a fine and beautiful thing that she has done for me.

11 You will always have poor people with you, but you will not always have me.

12 What she did was to pour this perfume on my body to get me ready for burial.

13 Now, I assure you that wherever this gospel is preached all over the world, what she has done will be told in memory of her."

14 Then one of the twelve disciples - the one named Judas Iscariot - went to the chief priests

15 and asked, "What will you give me if I betray Jesus to you?" They counted out thirty silver coins and gave them to him.

16 From then on Judas was looking for a good chance to hand Jesus over to them.

17 On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus and asked him, "Where do you want us to get the Passover meal ready for you?"

18 "Go to a certain man in the city," he said to them, "and tell him: "The Teacher says, My hour has come; my disciples and I will celebrate the Passover at your house.' "

19 The disciples did as Jesus had told them and prepared the Passover meal.

20 When it was evening, Jesus and the twelve disciples sat down to eat.

21 During the meal Jesus said, "I tell you, one of you will betray me."

22 The disciples were very upset and began to ask him, one after the other, "Surely, Lord, you don't mean me?"

23 Jesus answered, "One who dips his bread in the dish with me will betray me.

24 The Son of Man will die as the Scriptures say he will, but how terrible for that man who will betray the Son of Man! It would have been better for that man if he had never been born!"

25 Judas, the traitor, spoke up. "Surely, Teacher, you don't mean me?" he asked. Jesus answered, "So you say."

26 While they were eating, Jesus took a piece of bread, gave a prayer of thanks, broke it, and gave it to his disciples. "Take and eat it," he said; "this is my body."

27 Then he took a cup, gave thanks to God, and gave it to them. "Drink it, all of you," he said;

28 "this is my blood, which seals God's covenant, my blood poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

29 I tell you, I will never again drink this wine until the day I drink the new wine with you in my Father's Kingdom."

30 Then they sang a hymn and went out to the Mount of Olives.

31 Then Jesus said to them, "This very night all of you will run away and leave me, for the scripture says, "God will kill the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.'

32 But after I am raised to life, I will go to Galilee ahead of you."

33 Peter spoke up and said to Jesus, "I will never leave you, even though all the rest do!"

34 Jesus said to Peter, "I tell you that before the rooster crows tonight, you will say three times that you do not know me."

35 Peter answered, "I will never say that, even if I have to die with you!" And all the other disciples said the same thing.

36 Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, "Sit here while I go over there and pray."

37 He took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee. Grief and anguish came over him,

38 and he said to them, "The sorrow in my heart is so great that it almost crushes me. Stay here and keep watch with me."

39 He went a little farther on, threw himself face downward on the ground, and prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, take this cup of suffering from me! Yet not what I want, but what you want."

40 Then he returned to the three disciples and found them asleep; and he said to Peter, "How is it that you three were not able to keep watch with me for even one hour?

41 Keep watch and pray that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak."

42 Once more Jesus went away and prayed, "My Father, if this cup of suffering cannot be taken away unless I drink it, your will be done."

43 He returned once more and found the disciples asleep; they could not keep their eyes open.

44 Again Jesus left them, went away, and prayed the third time, saying the same words.

45 Then he returned to the disciples and said, "Are you still sleeping and resting? Look! The hour has come for the Son of Man to be handed over to the power of sinners.

46 Get up, let us go. Look, here is the man who is betraying me!"

47 Jesus was still speaking when Judas, one of the twelve disciples, arrived. With him was a large crowd armed with swords and clubs and sent by the chief priests and the elders.

48 The traitor had given the crowd a signal: "The man I kiss is the one you want. Arrest him!"

49 Judas went straight to Jesus and said, "Peace be with you, Teacher," and kissed him.

50 Jesus answered, "Be quick about it, friend!" Then they came up, arrested Jesus, and held him tight.

51 One of those who were with Jesus drew his sword and struck at the High Priest's slave, cutting off his ear.

52 "Put your sword back in its place," Jesus said to him. "All who take the sword will die by the sword.

53 Don't you know that I could call on my Father for help, and at once he would send me more than twelve armies of angels?

54 But in that case, how could the Scriptures come true which say that this is what must happen?"

55 Then Jesus spoke to the crowd, "Did you have to come with swords and clubs to capture me, as though I were an outlaw? Every day I sat down and taught in the Temple, and you did not arrest me.

56 But all this has happened in order to make come true what the prophets wrote in the Scriptures." Then all the disciples left him and ran away.

57 Those who had arrested Jesus took him to the house of Caiaphas, the High Priest, where the teachers of the Law and the elders had gathered together.

58 Peter followed from a distance, as far as the courtyard of the High Priest's house. He went into the courtyard and sat down with the guards to see how it would all come out.

59 The chief priests and the whole Council tried to find some false evidence against Jesus to put him to death;

60 but they could not find any, even though many people came forward and told lies about him. Finally two men stepped up

61 and said, "This man said, "I am able to tear down God's Temple and three days later build it back up.' "

62 The High Priest stood up and said to Jesus, "Have you no answer to give to this accusation against you?"

63 But Jesus kept quiet. Again the High Priest spoke to him, "In the name of the living God I now put you under oath: tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God."

64 Jesus answered him, "So you say. But I tell all of you: from this time on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right side of the Almighty and coming on the clouds of heaven!"

65 At this the High Priest tore his clothes and said, "Blasphemy! We don't need any more witnesses! You have just heard his blasphemy!

66 What do you think?" They answered, "He is guilty and must die."

67 Then they spat in his face and beat him; and those who slapped him

68 said, "Prophesy for us, Messiah! Guess who hit you!"

69 Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard when one of the High Priest's servant women came to him and said, "You, too, were with Jesus of Galilee."

70 But he denied it in front of them all. "I don't know what you are talking about," he answered,

71 and went on out to the entrance of the courtyard. Another servant woman saw him and said to the men there, "He was with Jesus of Nazareth."

72 Again Peter denied it and answered, "I swear that I don't know that man!"

73 After a little while the men standing there came to Peter. "Of course you are one of them," they said. "After all, the way you speak gives you away!"

74 Then Peter said, "I swear that I am telling the truth! May God punish me if I am not! I do not know that man!" Just then a rooster crowed,

75 and Peter remembered what Jesus had told him: "Before the rooster crows, you will say three times that you do not know me." He went out and wept bitterly.