Jesus faces the hostility of religious leaders
20
📚And it happened on one of those days, as he was teaching the people in the temple, and preaching the gospel 📖, that the chief priests and the scribes with the elders came up, 2 📚and spoke to him, saying, “Tell us, by what authority are you doing these things? Or who is the one who gave you this authority?”3 📚And he answered and said to them, “I will also ask you one thing, and you answer me: 4 📚The baptism of John, was it from heaven, or of men?”
5 📚And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven’, he will say, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’ 6 📚But if we say, ‘Of men’, all the people will stone us, for they are persuaded that John was a prophet”.
7 📚And they answered that they could not tell from where it was.
8 📚And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things”.
The parable of the tenants of the vineyard
9 📚Then he began to tell the people this parable: “A certain man planted a vineyard, let it out to vine growers, and went into a far country for a long time. 10 📚And at harvest time he sent a servant to the vine growers so they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the vine growers beat him, and sent him away empty-handed. 11 📚And he sent another servant. And they beat him also, and treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed. 12 And he sent a third, and they wounded him also, and threw him out.
13 📚“Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my dear son. Perhaps they will respect him when they see him.’
14 📚“But when the vine growers saw him, they reasoned among themselves, saying, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, so that the inheritance may become ours.’
15 📚“So they threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. What, then, will the owner of the vineyard do to them? 16 📚He will come and destroy these vine growers and will give the vineyard to others”. And when they heard this, they said, “God forbid!”
17 📚And he looked at them and said, “Then what is this that is written?
The stone which the builders rejected,
has become the chief cornerstone.
18 📚Whoever falls on that stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will crush him to powder”.
19 📚And at that time the chief priests and the scribes were anxious to seize him, but they feared the people; for they understood that he had spoken this parable against them. 20 📚And they watched him, and sent out spies passing themselves off as righteous men, so that they might seize on his words, with the aim of handing him over to the power and authority of the governor.
21 📚And they questioned him, saying, “Teacher, we know that you speak and teach rightly, and do not accept a person to show him favoritism, but truly teach the way of God. 22 📚Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?”
23 📚But he perceived their craftiness, and said to them, “Why are you testing me? 24 📚Show me a silver coin. Whose likeness and inscription does it have?” They answered and said, “Caesar’s”.
25 📚And he said to them, “So give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s”.
26 📚And they could not seize on his words in the presence of the people, and were amazed at his answer, and became quiet.
Resurrection and marriage
27 📚Then some of the Sadducees, who deny there is a resurrection, came to him, and questioned him, 28 📚saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if any man’s brother who has a wife dies, passing away without children, that his brother should take his wife in marriage and raise up children for his brother. 29 📚Now there were seven brothers, and the first took a wife and died without children. 30 And the second took her as his wife, and died childless. 31 And the third took her; and in the same way all the seven died and left no children. 32 📚Last of all the woman also died. 33 📚So, in the resurrection, among these whose wife will she be? For seven had her for a wife”.
34 📚And Jesus in answer said to them, “The sons of this world marry, and are given in marriage. 35 📚But those who will be considered worthy to obtain that world, 📖 and the resurrection from among the dead, 📖 neither marry, nor are given in marriage. 36 📚Nor can they die any more, for they are like the angels, and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection.
20:36 God’s children (John 1:12-13; 1 John 3:1-2) will never die – John 5:24, 29; 6:50-51; 11:25-26; Rev 20:6.⚜
37 📚Now that the dead are raised, even Moses showed at the bush, when he called the Lord the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. 38 📚For he is not a God of the dead, but of the living; for to him all are alive”.
39 📚Then some of the scribes answering said, “Teacher, you have spoken well”.
20:39 Pharisees would have said this because they believed in the resurrection and opposed the Sadducees. See Acts 23:6-9.⚜
40 📚And after that they did not dare ask him any question at all.
Jesus asks a question they cannot answer
41 📚And he said to them, “How can they say that Christ is David’s son 📖? 42 📚And David himself said in the book of Psalms,
The Lord said to my Lord,
Sit at my right hand,
43 📚until I make your enemies your footstool.
44 📚“So David called him Lord. How then is he his son?”
45 📚Then in the hearing of all the people he said to his disciples, 46 📚“Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and love greetings in the marketplaces, and the seats of honour in the synagogues, and the chief places at feasts. 47 📚They devour widows’ houses, and for a show make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation”.