Matthew 23; Luke 20; Luke 21

1 Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples.

2 "The teachers of the Law and the Pharisees are the authorized interpreters of Moses' Law.

3 So you must obey and follow everything they tell you to do; do not, however, imitate their actions, because they don't practice what they preach.

4 They tie onto people's backs loads that are heavy and hard to carry, yet they aren't willing even to lift a finger to help them carry those loads

5 They do everything so that people will see them. Look at the straps with scripture verses on them which they wear on their foreheads and arms, and notice how large they are! Notice also how long are the tassels on their cloaks!

6 They love the best places at feasts and the reserved seats in the synagogues;

7 they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to have people call them "Teacher.'

8 You must not be called "Teacher,' because you are all equal and have only one Teacher.

9 And you must not call anyone here on earth "Father,' because you have only the one Father in heaven.

10 Nor should you be called "Leader,' because your one and only leader is the Messiah.

11 The greatest one among you must be your servant.

12 Whoever makes himself great will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be made great.

13 "How terrible for you, teachers of the Law and Pharisees! You hypocrites! You lock the door to the Kingdom of heaven in people's faces, but you yourselves don't go in, nor do you allow in those who are trying to enter!

15 "How terrible for you, teachers of the Law and Pharisees! You hypocrites! You sail the seas and cross whole countries to win one convert; and when you succeed, you make him twice as deserving of going to hell as you yourselves are!

16 "How terrible for you, blind guides! You teach, "If someone swears by the Temple, he isn't bound by his vow; but if he swears by the gold in the Temple, he is bound.'

17 Blind fools! Which is more important, the gold or the Temple which makes the gold holy?

18 You also teach, "If someone swears by the altar, he isn't bound by his vow; but if he swears by the gift on the altar, he is bound.'

19 How blind you are! Which is the more important, the gift or the altar which makes the gift holy

20 So then, when a person swears by the altar, he is swearing by it and by all the gifts on it;

21 and when he swears by the Temple, he is swearing by it and by God, who lives there

22 and when someone swears by heaven, he is swearing by God's throne and by him who sits on it.

23 "How terrible for you, teachers of the Law and Pharisees! You hypocrites! You give to God one tenth even of the seasoning herbs, such as mint, dill, and cumin, but you neglect to obey the really important teachings of the Law, such as justice and mercy and honesty. These you should practice, without neglecting the others.

24 Blind guides! You strain a fly out of your drink, but swallow a camel!

25 "How terrible for you, teachers of the Law and Pharisees! You hypocrites! You clean the outside of your cup and plate, while the inside is full of what you have gotten by violence and selfishness.

26 Blind Pharisee! Clean what is inside the cup first, and then the outside will be clean too!

27 "How terrible for you, teachers of the Law and Pharisees! You hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look fine on the outside but are full of bones and decaying corpses on the inside.

28 In the same way, on the outside you appear good to everybody, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and sins.

29 "How terrible for you, teachers of the Law and Pharisees! You hypocrites! You make fine tombs for the prophets and decorate the monuments of those who lived good lives;

30 and you claim that if you had lived during the time of your ancestors, you would not have done what they did and killed the prophets.

31 So you actually admit that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets!

32 Go on, then, and finish up what your ancestors started!

33 You snakes and children of snakes! How do you expect to escape from being condemned to hell?

34 And so I tell you that I will send you prophets and wise men and teachers; you will kill some of them, crucify others, and whip others in the synagogues and chase them from town to town.

35 As a result, the punishment for the murder of all innocent people will fall on you, from the murder of innocent Abel to the murder of Zechariah son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the Temple and the altar.

36 I tell you indeed: the punishment for all these murders will fall on the people of this day

37 "Jerusalem, Jerusalem! You kill the prophets and stone the messengers God has sent you! How many times I wanted to put my arms around all your people, just as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you would not let me!

38 And so your Temple will be abandoned and empty.

39 From now on, I tell you, you will never see me again until you say, "God bless him who comes in the name of the Lord.' "

1 One 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

2 and said to him, "Tell us, what right do you have to do these things? Who gave you such right?"

3 Jesus answered them, "Now let me ask you a question. Tell me,

4 did John's right to baptize come from God or from human beings?"

5 They started to argue among themselves, "What shall we say? If we say, "From God,' he will say, "Why, then, did you not believe John?'

6 But if we say, "From human beings,' this whole crowd here will stone us, because they are convinced that John was a prophet."

7 So they answered, "We don't know where it came from."

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

9 Then Jesus told the people this parable: "There was once a man who planted a vineyard, rented it out to tenants, and then left home for a long time.

10 When 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.

11 So he sent another slave; but the tenants beat him also, treated him shamefully, and sent him back without a thing.

12 Then he sent a third slave; the tenants wounded him, too, and threw him out.

13 Then the owner of the vineyard said, "What shall I do? I will send my own dear son; surely they will respect him!'

14 But 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!'

15 So 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 turn the vineyard over to other tenants." When the people heard this, they said, "Surely not!"

17 Jesus looked at them and asked, "What, then, does this scripture mean? "The stone which the builders rejected as worthless turned out to be the most important of all.'

18 Everyone who falls on that stone will be cut to pieces; and if that stone falls on someone, that person will be crushed to dust."

19 The 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.

20 So 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.

21 These 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.

22 Tell us, is it against our Law for us to pay taxes to the Roman Emperor, or not?"

23 But 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.

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

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

27 Then 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.'

29 Once there were seven brothers; the oldest got married and died without having children.

30 Then the second one married the woman,

31 and then the third. The same thing happened to all seven - they died without having children.

32 Last of all, the woman died.

33 Now, on the day when the dead rise to life, whose wife will she be? All seven of them had married her."

34 Jesus answered them, "The men and women of this age marry,

35 but the men and women who are worthy to rise from death and live in the age to come will not then marry.

36 They will be like angels and cannot die. They are the children of God, because they have risen from death.

37 And 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.'

38 He is the God of the living, not of the dead, for to him all are alive."

39 Some of the teachers of the Law spoke up, "A good answer, Teacher!"

40 For they did not dare ask him any more questions.

41 Jesus asked them, "How can it be said that the Messiah will be the descendant of David?

42 For David himself says in the book of Psalms, "The Lord said to my Lord: Sit here at my right side

43 until I put your enemies as a footstool under your feet.'

44 David called him "Lord'; how, then, can the Messiah be David's descendant?"

45 As 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 around in their long robes and love to be greeted with respect in the marketplace; who choose the reserved seats in the synagogues and the best places at feasts;

47 who 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!"

1 Jesus looked around and saw rich people dropping their gifts in the Temple treasury,

2 and he also saw a very poor widow dropping in two little copper coins.

3 He said, "I tell you that this poor widow put in more than all the others.

4 For the others offered their gifts from what they had to spare of their riches; but she, poor as she is, gave all she had to live on."

5 Some of the disciples were talking about the Temple, how beautiful it looked with its fine stones and the gifts offered to God. Jesus said,

6 "All this you see - the time will come when not a single stone here will be left in its place; every one will be thrown down."

7 "Teacher," they asked, "when will this be? And what will happen in order to show that the time has come for it to take place?"

8 Jesus said, "Watch out; don't be fooled. Many men, claiming to speak for me, will come and say, "I am he!' and, "The time has come!' But don't follow them.

9 Don't be afraid when you hear of wars and revolutions; such things must happen first, but they do not mean that the end is near."

10 He went on to say, "Countries will fight each other; kingdoms will attack one another.

11 There will be terrible earthquakes, famines, and plagues everywhere; there will be strange and terrifying things coming from the sky.

12 Before all these things take place, however, you will be arrested and persecuted; you will be handed over to be tried in synagogues and be put in prison; you will be brought before kings and rulers for my sake.

13 This will be your chance to tell the Good News.

14 Make up your minds ahead of time not to worry about how you will defend yourselves,

15 because I will give you such words and wisdom that none of your enemies will be able to refute or contradict what you say.

16 You will be handed over by your parents, your brothers, your relatives, and your friends; and some of you will be put to death.

17 Everyone will hate you because of me.

18 But not a single hair from your heads will be lost.

19 Stand firm, and you will save yourselves.

20 "When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then you will know that it will soon be destroyed.

21 Then those who are in Judea must run away to the hills; those who are in the city must leave, and those who are out in the country must not go into the city.

22 For those will be "The Days of Punishment,' to make come true all that the Scriptures say.

23 How terrible it will be in those days for women who are pregnant and for mothers with little babies! Terrible distress will come upon this land, and God's punishment will fall on this people.

24 Some will be killed by the sword, and others will be taken as prisoners to all countries; and the heathen will trample over Jerusalem until their time is up.

25 "There will be strange things happening to the sun, the moon, and the stars. On earth whole countries will be in despair, afraid of the roar of the sea and the raging tides.

26 People will faint from fear as they wait for what is coming over the whole earth, for the powers in space will be driven from their courses.

27 Then the Son of Man will appear, coming in a cloud with great power and glory.

28 When these things begin to happen, stand up and raise your heads, because your salvation is near."

29 Then Jesus told them this parable: "Think of the fig tree and all the other trees.

30 When you see their leaves beginning to appear, you know that summer is near.

31 In the same way, when you see these things happening, you will know that the Kingdom of God is about to come.

32 "Remember that all these things will take place before the people now living have all died.

33 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

34 "Be careful not to let yourselves become occupied with too much feasting and drinking and with the worries of this life, or that Day may suddenly catch you

35 like a trap. For it will come upon all people everywhere on earth.

36 Be on watch and pray always that you will have the strength to go safely through all those things that will happen and to stand before the Son of Man."

37 Jesus spent those days teaching in the Temple, and when evening came, he would go out and spend the night on the Mount of Olives.

38 Early each morning all the people went to the Temple to listen to him.