The Parable of the Wedding Feast

¹Jesus again used parables in talking to the people.

²“The Kingdom of heaven is like this. Once there was a king who prepared a wedding feast for his son.

³He sent his servants to tell the invited guests to come to the feast, but they did not want to come.

⁴So he sent other servants with this message for the guests: ‘My feast is ready now; my steers and prize calves have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast!’

⁵But the invited guests paid no attention and went about their business: one went to his farm, another to his store,

⁶while others grabbed the servants, beat them, and killed them.

⁷The king was very angry; so he sent his soldiers, who killed those murderers and burned down their city.

⁸Then he called his servants and said to them, ‘My wedding feast is ready, but the people I invited did not deserve it.

⁹Now go to the main streets and invite to the feast as many people as you find.’

¹⁰So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, good and bad alike; and the wedding hall was filled with people.

¹¹“The king went in to look at the guests and saw a man who was not wearing wedding clothes.

¹²‘Friend, how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ the king asked him. But the man said nothing.

¹³Then the king told the servants, ‘Tie him up hand and foot, and throw him outside in the dark. There he will cry and gnash his teeth.’”

¹⁴And Jesus concluded, “Many are invited, but few are chosen.”

The Question about Paying Taxes

¹⁵The Pharisees went off and made a plan to trap Jesus with questions.

¹⁶Then they sent to him some of their disciples and some members of Herod's party. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that you tell the truth. You teach the truth about God's will for people, without worrying about what others think, because you pay no attention to anyone's status.

¹⁷Tell us, then, what do you think? Is it against our Law to pay taxes to the Roman Emperor, or not?”

¹⁸Jesus, however, was aware of their evil plan, and so he said, “You hypocrites! Why are you trying to trap me?

¹⁹Show me the coin for paying the tax!” They brought him the coin,

²⁰and he asked them, “Whose face and name are these?”

²¹“The Emperor's,” they answered. So Jesus said to them, “Well, then, pay to the Emperor what belongs to the Emperor, and pay to God what belongs to God.”

²²When they heard this, they were amazed; and they left him and went away.

The Question about Rising from Death

²³That same day some Sadducees came to Jesus and claimed that people will not rise from death.

²⁴“Teacher,” they said, “Moses said that if a man who has no children dies, his brother must marry the widow so that they can have children who will be considered the dead man's children.

²⁵Now, there were seven brothers who used to live here. The oldest got married and died without having children, so he left his widow to his brother.

²⁶The same thing happened to the second brother, to the third, and finally to all seven.

²⁷Last of all, the woman died.

²⁸Now, on the day when the dead rise to life, whose wife will she be? All of them had married her.”

²⁹Jesus answered them, “How wrong you are! It is because you don't know the Scriptures or God's power.

³⁰For when the dead rise to life, they will be like the angels in heaven and will not marry.

³¹Now, as for the dead rising to life: haven't you ever read what God has told you? He said,

³²‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ He is the God of the living, not of the dead.”

³³When the crowds heard this, they were amazed at his teaching.

The Great Commandment

³⁴When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they came together,

³⁵and one of them, a teacher of the Law, tried to trap him with a question.

³⁶“Teacher,” he asked, “which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

³⁷Jesus answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’

³⁸This is the greatest and the most important commandment.

³⁹The second most important commandment is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as you love yourself.’

⁴⁰The whole Law of Moses and the teachings of the prophets depend on these two commandments.”

The Question about the Messiah

⁴¹When some Pharisees gathered together, Jesus asked them,

⁴²“What do you think about the Messiah? Whose descendant is he?” “He is David's descendant,” they answered.

⁴³“Why, then,” Jesus asked, “did the Spirit inspire David to call him ‘Lord’? David said,

⁴⁴‘The Lord said to my Lord: Sit here at my right side until I put your enemies under your feet.’

⁴⁵If, then, David called him ‘Lord,’ how can the Messiah be David's descendant?”

⁴⁶No one was able to give Jesus any answer, and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions.

Jesus Warns against the Teachers of the Law and the Pharisees

¹Then 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.

³So 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.

⁴They 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.

⁵They 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!

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

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

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

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

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

¹¹The greatest one among you must be your servant.

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

Jesus Condemns Their Hypocrisy

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!

¹⁴[Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you devour the houses of widows, praying long prayers. For this you shall receive the greater judgment.] (Vulgate/DR Patch)

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.’

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

¹⁸You 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.’

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

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

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

²²and 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.

²⁴Blind 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.

²⁶Blind 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.

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

Jesus Predicts Their Punishment

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;

³⁰and 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.

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

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

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

³⁴And 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.

³⁵As 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.

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

Jesus' Love for Jerusalem

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!

³⁸And so your Temple will be abandoned and empty.

³⁹From 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.’”

Jesus Speaks of the Destruction of the Temple

¹Jesus left and was going away from the Temple when his disciples came to him to call his attention to its buildings.

²“Yes,” he said, “you may well look at all these. I tell you this: not a single stone here will be left in its place; every one of them will be thrown down.”

Troubles and Persecutions

³As Jesus sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him in private. “Tell us when all this will be,” they asked, “and what will happen to show that it is the time for your coming and the end of the age.”

⁴Jesus answered, “Watch out, and do not let anyone fool you.

⁵Many men, claiming to speak for me, will come and say, ‘I am the Messiah!’ and they will fool many people.

⁶You are going to hear the noise of battles close by and the news of battles far away; but do not be troubled. Such things must happen, but they do not mean that the end has come.

⁷Countries will fight each other; kingdoms will attack one another. There will be famines and earthquakes everywhere.

⁸All these things are like the first pains of childbirth.

⁹“Then you will be arrested and handed over to be punished and be put to death. Everyone will hate you because of me.

¹⁰Many will give up their faith at that time; they will betray one another and hate one another.

¹¹Then many false prophets will appear and fool many people.

¹²Such will be the spread of evil that many people's love will grow cold.

¹³But whoever holds out to the end will be saved.

¹⁴And this Good News about the Kingdom will be preached through all the world for a witness to all people; and then the end will come.

The Awful Horror

¹⁵“You will see ‘The Awful Horror’ of which the prophet Daniel spoke. It will be standing in the holy place.” (Note to the reader: understand what this means!)

¹⁶“Then those who are in Judea must run away to the hills.

¹⁷Someone who is on the roof of a house must not take the time to go down and get any belongings from the house.

¹⁸Someone who is in the field must not go back to get a cloak.

¹⁹How terrible it will be in those days for women who are pregnant and for mothers with little babies!

²⁰Pray to God that you will not have to run away during the winter or on a Sabbath!

²¹For the trouble at that time will be far more terrible than any there has ever been, from the beginning of the world to this very day. Nor will there ever be anything like it again.

²²But God has already reduced the number of days; had he not done so, nobody would survive. For the sake of his chosen people, however, God will reduce the days.

²³“Then, if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or ‘There he is!’—do not believe it.

²⁴For false Messiahs and false prophets will appear; they will perform great miracles and wonders in order to deceive even God's chosen people, if possible.

²⁵Listen! I have told you this ahead of time.

²⁶“Or, if people should tell you, ‘Look, he is out in the desert!’—don't go there; or if they say, ‘Look, he is hiding here!’—don't believe it.

²⁷For the Son of Man will come like the lightning which flashes across the whole sky from the east to the west.

²⁸“Wherever there is a dead body, the vultures will gather.

The Coming of the Son of Man

²⁹“Soon after the trouble of those days, the sun will grow dark, the moon will no longer shine, the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers in space will be driven from their courses.

³⁰Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky; and all the peoples of earth will weep as they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

³¹The great trumpet will sound, and he will send out his angels to the four corners of the earth, and they will gather his chosen people from one end of the world to the other.

The Lesson of the Fig Tree

³²“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.

³³In the same way, when you see all these things, you will know that the time is near, ready to begin.

³⁴Remember that all these things will happen before the people now living have all died.

³⁵Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

No One Knows the Day and Hour

³⁶“No one knows, however, when that day and hour will come—neither the angels in heaven nor the Son; the Father alone knows.

³⁷The coming of the Son of Man will be like what happened in the time of Noah.

³⁸In the days before the flood people ate and drank, men and women married, up to the very day Noah went into the boat;

³⁹yet they did not realize what was happening until the flood came and swept them all away. That is how it will be when the Son of Man comes.

⁴⁰At that time two men will be working in a field: one will be taken away, the other will be left behind.

⁴¹Two women will be at a mill grinding meal: one will be taken away, the other will be left behind.

⁴²Watch out, then, because you do not know what day your Lord will come.

⁴³If the owner of a house knew the time when the thief would come, you can be sure that he would stay awake and not let the thief break into his house.

⁴⁴So then, you also must always be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you are not expecting him.

The Faithful or the Unfaithful Servant

⁴⁵“Who, then, is a faithful and wise servant? It is the one that his master has placed in charge of the other servants to give them their food at the proper time.

⁴⁶How happy that servant is if his master finds him doing this when he comes home!

⁴⁷Indeed, I tell you, the master will put that servant in charge of all his property.

⁴⁸But if he is a bad servant, he will tell himself that his master will not come back for a long time,

⁴⁹and he will begin to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards.

⁵⁰Then that servant's master will come back one day when the servant does not expect him and at a time he does not know.

⁵¹The master will cut him in pieces and make him share the fate of the hypocrites. There he will cry and gnash his teeth.

¹⁷When you give to the poor, it is like lending to the Lord, and the Lord will pay you back.

¹⁸Discipline your children while they are young enough to learn. If you don't, you are helping them destroy themselves.

¹⁹If someone has a hot temper, let him take the consequences. If you get him out of trouble once, you will have to do it again.

²⁰If you listen to advice and are willing to learn, one day you will be wise.