Jewish Leaders Question Jesus^(A)

20 One day Jesus was in the Temple, teaching the people and ·telling them the Good News [preaching the Gospel]. The ·leading [^Tchief] priests, ·teachers of the law [scribes], and elders came up to talk with him, ² saying, “Tell us what authority you have to do these things? [^LOr] Who gave you this authority?”

³ Jesus answered, “I will also ask you a question. Tell me: ⁴ When John baptized people, was that authority from ·God [^Lheaven; ^Ca reverent Jewish way of referring to God] or just from ·other people [human beings]?”

⁵ They ·argued about this [^Ldiscussed this among themselves], saying, “If we answer, ‘John’s baptism was from ·God [^Lheaven],’ Jesus will say, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’ ⁶ But if we say, ‘It was from ·other people [human beings],’ all the people will stone us to death, because they ·believe [are convinced that] John was a prophet.” ⁷ So they answered that they didn’t know where it came from.

⁸ Jesus said to them, “Then I won’t tell you what authority I have to do these things.”

The Story of the Evil Farmers^(B)

⁹ Then Jesus ·told [^Lbegan/proceeded to tell] the people this ·story [parable]: “A man planted a vineyard and leased it to some [^Ctenant] farmers [^CJesus builds on Is. 5:1–7; the owner represents God; the farmers are Israel’s religious leaders]. Then he ·went away [took a journey] for a long time. ¹⁰ ·When it was time for the grapes to be picked [^LAt the (harvest) time], he sent a ·servant [slave] to the farmers to get some of the grapes [^Cthe portion of the harvest to pay the rent]. But they beat him and sent him away empty-handed. ¹¹ Then he sent another ·servant [slave]. They beat him also, and ·showed no respect for [humiliated; dishonored] him, and sent him away empty-handed. ¹² So the man sent a third. The farmers wounded him and threw him out [^Cthe servants represent the prophets God sent to Israel]. ¹³ The owner of the vineyard said, ‘What will I do now? I will send my son whom I love [^Crepresenting Jesus; see 3:22]. ·Maybe [or Probably; or Surely] they will respect him.’ ¹⁴ But when the farmers saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This ·son will inherit the vineyard [^Lis the heir]. Let’s kill him so the inheritance will be ours.’ ¹⁵ So the farmers threw the son out of the vineyard and killed him.

“What will the ·owner [lord] of the vineyard do to them? ¹⁶ He will come and ·kill [destroy] those farmers and will give the vineyard to ·other farmers [^Lothers; ^Creferring to the sinners who were responding to Jesus’ call for repentance, and eventually to the Gentiles who would be saved].”

When the people heard this ·story [parable], they said, “·Let this never happen [^TGod forbid; ^LMay it not happen]!”

¹⁷ But Jesus looked [directly; intently] at them and said, “Then what does this Scripture passage mean:

¹⁸ Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken [Is. 8:14], and the person on whom it falls, that person will be crushed [cf. Dan. 2:34]!”

¹⁹ The ·teachers of the law [scribes] and the ·leading [^Tchief] priests ·wanted [tried/sought] to ·arrest [seize; ^Llay hands on] Jesus at once, because they knew the ·story [parable] was ·about [told against] them. But they were afraid of what the people would do.

Is It Right to Pay Taxes or Not?^(C)

²⁰ So they watched Jesus and sent some spies who acted as if they were ·sincere [honest; righteous]. They wanted to trap Jesus in saying something wrong so they could hand him over to the ·authority [jurisdiction; rule] and ·power [authority] of the governor. ²¹ So the spies asked Jesus, “Teacher, we know that what you say and teach is ·true [right; correct]. You ·pay no attention to who people are [play no favorites; are impartial; aren’t swayed by appearances], and you always teach ·the truth [with sincerity/honesty] about God’s way. ²² Tell us, is it ·right [permissible; lawful] for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” [^CSaying yes would anger Jews who hated Roman rule; saying no could result in being charged with insurrection.]

²³ But Jesus, knowing ·they were trying to trick him [^Ltheir craftiness/duplicity], said, ²⁴ “Show me a ·coin [^Ldenarius]. Whose ·image [likeness; portrait] and ·name [inscription; title] are on it?”

They said, “Caesar’s.” [^CIronically, the religious leaders carry coins bearing the idolatrous image of Caesar.]

²⁵ Jesus said to them, “Then ·give [give back; ^Trender] to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and ·give [give back; ^Trender] to God the things that are God’s.”

²⁶ So they were not able to ·trap [catch] Jesus in anything he said in the presence of the people. And being amazed at his answer, they ·became silent [kept quiet].

Some Sadducees Try to Trick Jesus^(D)

²⁷ Some Sadducees, who believed people would not rise from the dead, came to Jesus. ²⁸ They asked, “Teacher, Moses wrote that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, then that man must marry the widow and ·have children [^Lraise up offspring/seed] for his brother [Deut. 25:5–6]. ²⁹ Once there were seven brothers. The first brother ·married [^Ltook a wife] and died, but had no children. ³⁰ Then the second brother married the widow, and he died. ³¹ And the third brother married the widow, and he died. The same thing happened with all seven brothers; they died and had no children. ³² Finally, the woman died also. ³³ Since all seven brothers had married her, whose wife will she be ·when people rise from the dead [^Lat the resurrection]?”

³⁴ Jesus said to them, “·On earth, people [^LThe children of this age] marry and are given to someone to marry. ³⁵ But those who will be worthy ·to be raised from the dead and live again [^Lof the age to come and the resurrection] will not marry, nor will they be given to someone to marry. ³⁶ [^LFor] In that life they are ·like [or equal to] angels and cannot die. They are children of God, because they ·have been raised from the dead [are children of the resurrection]. ³⁷ Even Moses clearly showed that the dead are raised to life. When he wrote about the burning bush [Ex. 3:1–12], he said that the Lord is ‘the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob [Ex. 3:6; ^CGod is still the God of the patriarchs, so they must have a continued existence after death].’ ³⁸ God is the God of the living, not the dead, because all people are alive to him.”

³⁹ Some of the ·teachers of the law [scribes] said, “Teacher, ·your answer was good [well said!].” ⁴⁰ No one ·was brave enough [dared] to ask him another question.

Is the Christ the Son of David?^(E)

⁴¹ Then Jesus said, “Why do people say that the ·Christ [Messiah] is the Son of David [2 Sam. 7:12–16]? ⁴² [^LFor; Since] In the book of Psalms, David himself says:

⁴⁴ David calls ·the Christ [the Messiah; ^Lhim] ‘Lord,’ so how can ·the Christ [the Messiah; ^Lhe] be his son?”

Jesus Accuses Some Leaders^(F)

⁴⁵ While all the people were listening, Jesus said to his ·followers [disciples], ⁴⁶ “Beware of the ·teachers of the law [scribes]. They like to walk around wearing ·fancy clothes [or flowing robes], and they love for people to greet them with respect in the marketplaces. They love to have the most important seats in the synagogues [11:43] and [the place of highest honor] at ·feasts [banquets]. ⁴⁷ But they ·cheat widows and steal their houses [^Ldevour widows’ homes] and ·then try to make themselves look good by saying [^Lwith false motives pray] long prayers. They will receive a greater ·punishment [condemnation].”