1One day, as he was teaching the people in the temple and proclaiming the good news, the chief priests and the scribes with the elders came upon him
2and said to him, “Tell us, by what authority are you doing these things? Or who is it that gave you this authority?”
3But he answered them, “I also will ask you a question, and you tell me:
4Was the baptism of John from heaven or from men?”
5But they reasoned among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why did you not believe him?’
6But if we say, ‘From men,’ all the people will stone us, for they are convinced that John was a prophet.”
7So they answered that they did not know where it was from.
8And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”
9Then he began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard, leased it to tenant farmers, and went on a journey for a long time.
10And at the harvest time he sent a servant to the tenant farmers, so that they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenant farmers beat him and sent him away empty-handed.
11And he proceeded to send another servant. But they beat that one also, treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed.
12And he proceeded to send a third. But they wounded this one also and threw him out.
13Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.’
14But when the tenant farmers saw him, they reasoned with one another, saying, ‘This is the heir. Let us kill him, so that the inheritance may become ours.’
15And they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them?
16He will come and destroy those tenant farmers and give the vineyard to others.” When they heard this, they said, “May it never be!”
17But he looked at them and said, “What then is the meaning of this that is written: ‘The stone that the builders rejected—this has become the cornerstone’?
18Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, but on whomever it falls, it will crush him.”
19The scribes and the chief priests sought to lay hands on him at that very hour, but they feared the people, for they knew that he had told this parable against them.
20So, watching their opportunity, they sent spies who pretended to be righteous, in order to catch him in his words, so as to hand him over to the rule and the authority of the governor.
21And they questioned him, saying, “Teacher, we know that you speak and teach correctly and show no partiality, but truly teach the way of God.
22Is it lawful for us to give tribute to Caesar, or not?”
23But perceiving their craftiness, he said to them,
24“Show me a denarius. Whose image and inscription does it have?” They said, “Caesar’s.”
25He said to them, “Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
26And they were not able to catch him in his statement before the people, and marveling at his answer, they fell silent.
27Then some of the Sadducees, who deny that there is a resurrection, came to him and questioned him,
28saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no children, his brother should take the wife and raise up offspring for his brother.”
29“Now there were seven brothers. The first took a wife and died childless.
30And the second—
31and the third took her. In the same way, all seven also left no children and died.
32Last of all, the woman died too.
33Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife will she be? For all seven had her as a wife.”
34And Jesus said to them, “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage,
35but those who are counted worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage.
36For they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels. And they are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.
37But that the dead are raised, even Moses disclosed at the Bush, when he speaks of the Lord as ‘the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.’
38Now he is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for all live to him.”
39Then some of the scribes answered, “Teacher, you have spoken well.”
40For they no longer dared to ask him anything.
41Then he said to them, “How can they say that the Christ is the son of David?
42For David himself says in the Book of Psalms, ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand,
43until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”’
44David therefore calls him ‘Lord,’ so how is he his son?”
45And while all the people were listening, he said to his disciples,
46“Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and love greetings in the marketplaces, the best seats in the synagogues, and the places of honor at banquets,
47who devour widows’ houses and for a pretense make long prayers. These will receive a greater condemnation.”
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