Matthew 20; Matthew 21
1 "For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who
went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard. 2 He
agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.3 "About
the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing
nothing. 4 He told them, 'You also go and work in my vineyard,
and I will pay you whatever is right.' 5 So they went.
"He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the
same thing. 6 About the eleventh hour he went out and found
still others standing around. He asked them, 'Why have you been standing here
all day long doing nothing?' 7 " 'Because no one has
hired us,' they answered. "He said to them, 'You also go and work in my
vineyard.' 8 "When evening came, the owner of the
vineyard said to his foreman, 'Call the workers and pay them their wages,
beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.' 9 "The
workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a
denarius. 10 So when those came who were hired first, they
expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. 11 When
they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. 12 'These
men who were hired last worked only one hour,' they said, 'and you have made
them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the
day.' 13 "But he answered one of them, 'Friend, I am not
being unfair to you. Didn't you agree to work for a denarius? 14 Take
your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave
you. 15 Don't I have the right to do what I want with my own
money? Or are you envious because I am generous?' 16 "So
the last will be first, and the first will be last." 17 Now
as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside and said
to them, 18 "We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of
Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They
will condemn him to death 19 and will turn him over to the
Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be
raised to life!" 20 Then the mother of Zebedee's sons
came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down, asked a favor of him. 21 "What
is it you want?" he asked. She said, "Grant that one of these two
sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your
kingdom." 22 "You don't know what you are
asking," Jesus said to them. "Can you drink the cup I am going to
drink?" "We can," they answered. 23Jesus said to
them, "You will indeed drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or left
is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been
prepared by my Father." 24 When the ten heard about this,
they were indignant with the two brothers. 25 Jesus called
them together and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it
over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 26 Not
so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your
servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first must be your
slave-- 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served,
but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." 29 As
Jesus and his disciples were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed him. 30 Two
blind men were sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was
going by, they shouted, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!" 31 The
crowd rebuked them and told them to be quiet, but they shouted all the louder,
"Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!" 32 Jesus
stopped and called them. "What do you want me to do for you?" he
asked. 33 "Lord," they answered, "we want our
sight." 34 Jesus had compassion on them and touched their
eyes. Immediately they received their sight and followed him.
1 As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the
Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them,
"Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied
there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. 3 If
anyone says anything to you, tell him that the Lord needs them, and he will
send them right away." 4 This took place to fulfill what
was spoken through the prophet: 5 "Say to the Daughter of
Zion, 'See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt,
the foal of a donkey.' " 6 The disciples went and did as
Jesus had instructed them. 7 They brought the donkey and the
colt, placed their cloaks on them, and Jesus sat on them. 8 A
very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches
from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 The crowds that
went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, "Hosanna to the Son of
David!" "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!"
"Hosanna in the highest!" 10 When Jesus entered
Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, "Who is this?"11 The
crowds answered, "This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in
Galilee." 12 Jesus entered the temple area and drove out
all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money
changers and the benches of those selling doves. 13 "It
is written," he said to them, " 'My house will be called a house of
prayer,' but you are making it a 'den of robbers.' " 14 The
blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them. 15 But
when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he
did and the children shouting in the temple area, "Hosanna to the Son of
David," they were indignant. 16 "Do you hear what
these children are saying?" they asked him. "Yes," replied Jesus,
"have you never read, " 'From the lips of children and infants you
have ordained praise' ?" 17And he left them and went out of
the city to Bethany, where he spent the night. 18 Early in the
morning, as he was on his way back to the city, he was hungry. 19 Seeing
a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves.
Then he said to it, "May you never bear fruit again!" Immediately the
tree withered. 20 When the disciples saw this, they were
amazed. "How did the fig tree wither so quickly?" they asked. 21 Jesus
replied, "I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not
only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this
mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and it will be done. 22 If
you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer." 23Jesus
entered the temple courts, and, while he was teaching, the chief priests and
the elders of the people came to him. "By what authority are you doing
these things?" they asked. "And who gave you this
authority?" 24 Jesus replied, "I will also ask you
one question. If you answer me, I will tell you by what authority I am doing
these things. 25 John's baptism--where did it come from? Was
it from heaven, or from men?" They discussed it among themselves and said,
"If we say, 'From heaven,' he will ask, 'Then why didn't you believe
him?' 26 But if we say, 'From men'--we are afraid of the
people, for they all hold that John was a prophet." 27 So
they answered Jesus, "We don't know." Then he said, "Neither
will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things. 28 "What
do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said,
'Son, go and work today in the vineyard.' 29 " 'I will
not,' he answered, but later he changed his mind and went. 30 "Then
the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, 'I will,
sir,' but he did not go. 31 "Which of the two did what
his father wanted?" "The first," they answered. Jesus said to
them, "I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are
entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. 32 For John came to
you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the
tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not
repent and believe him. 33 "Listen to another parable:
There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a
winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some
farmers and went away on a journey. 34 When the harvest time
approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit. 35 "The
tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a
third. 36 Then he sent other servants to them, more than the
first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. 37 Last
of all, he sent his son to them. 'They will respect my son,' he said. 38 "But
when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, 'This is the heir. Come,
let's kill him and take his inheritance.' 39 So they took him
and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. 40 "Therefore,
when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those
tenants?" 41 "He will bring those wretches to a
wretched end," they replied, "and he will rent the vineyard to other
tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time."42 Jesus
said to them, "Have you never read in the Scriptures: " 'The stone
the builders rejected has become the capstone; the Lord has done this, and it
is marvelous in our eyes' ? 43 "Therefore I tell you that
the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will
produce its fruit.44 He who falls on this stone will be broken to
pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed." 45When the
chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus' parables, they knew he was talking
about them.46 They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were
afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.
