Mark 11–12

Jesus Enters Jerusalem as a King

11As Jesus and his followers were coming closer to Jerusalem, they came to the towns of Bethphage and Bethany near the Mount of Olives. From there Jesus sent two of his followers ²and said to them, “Go to the town you can see there. When you enter it, you will quickly find a colt tied, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here to me. ³If anyone asks you why you are doing this, tell him its Master needs the colt, and he will send it at once.”

⁴The followers went into the town, found a colt tied in the street near the door of a house, and untied it. ⁵Some people were standing there and asked, “What are you doing? Why are you untying that colt?” ⁶The followers answered the way Jesus told them to answer, and the people let them take the colt.

⁷They brought the colt to Jesus and put their coats on it, and Jesus sat on it. ⁸Many people spread their coats on the road. Others cut branches in the fields and spread them on the road. ⁹The people were walking ahead of Jesus and behind him, shouting,

“Praise God!

God bless the One who comes in the name of the Lord!

¹⁰God bless the kingdom of our father David!

That kingdom is coming!

Praise ⁿ to God in heaven!”

¹¹Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the Temple. After he had looked at everything, since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve apostles.

¹²The next day as Jesus was leaving Bethany, he became hungry. ¹³Seeing a fig tree in leaf from far away, he went to see if it had any figs on it. But he found no figs, only leaves, because it was not the right season for figs. ¹⁴So Jesus said to the tree, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And Jesus’ followers heard him say this.

Jesus Goes to the Temple

¹⁵When Jesus returned to Jerusalem, he went into the Temple and began to throw out those who were buying and selling there. He turned over the tables of those who were exchanging different kinds of money, and he upset the benches of those who were selling doves. ¹⁶Jesus refused to allow anyone to carry goods through the Temple courts. ¹⁷Then he taught the people, saying, “It is written in the Scriptures, ‘My Temple will be called a house for prayer for people from all nations.’ ⁿ But you are changing God’s house into a ‘hideout for robbers.’ ” ⁿ

¹⁸The leading priests and the teachers of the law heard all this and began trying to find a way to kill Jesus. They were afraid of him, because all the people were amazed at his teaching. ¹⁹That evening, Jesus and his followers ⁿ left the city.

The Power of Faith

²⁰The next morning as Jesus was passing by with his followers, they saw the fig tree dry and dead, even to the roots. ²¹Peter remembered the tree and said to Jesus, “Teacher, look! The fig tree you cursed is dry and dead!”

²²Jesus answered, “Have faith in God. ²³I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, fall into the sea.’ And if you have no doubts in your mind and believe that what you say will happen, God will do it for you. ²⁴So I tell you to believe that you have received the things you ask for in prayer, and God will give them to you. ²⁵When you are praying, if you are angry with someone, forgive him so that your Father in heaven will also forgive your sins. ²⁶But if you don’t forgive other people, then your Father in heaven will not forgive your sins.” ⁿ

Leaders Doubt Jesus’ Authority

²⁷Jesus and his followers went again to Jerusalem. As Jesus was walking in the Temple, the leading priests, the teachers of the law, and the elders came to him. ²⁸They said to him, “What authority do you have to do these things? Who gave you this authority?”

²⁹Jesus answered, “I will ask you one question. If you answer me, I will tell you what authority I have to do these things. ³⁰Tell me: When John baptized people, was that authority from God or just from other people?”

³¹They argued about Jesus’ question, saying, “If we answer, ‘John’s baptism was from God,’ Jesus will say, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ ³²But if we say, ‘It was from other people,’ the crowd will be against us.” (These leaders were afraid of the people, because all the people believed that John was a prophet.)

³³So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.”

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

A Story About God’s Son

12Jesus began to use stories to teach the people. He said, “A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it and dug a hole for a winepress and built a tower. Then he leased the land to some farmers and left for a trip. ²When it was time for the grapes to be picked, he sent a servant to the farmers to get his share of the grapes. ³But the farmers grabbed the servant and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. ⁴Then the man sent another servant. They hit him on the head and showed no respect for him. ⁵So the man sent another servant, whom they killed. The man sent many other servants; the farmers beat some of them and killed others.

⁶“The man had one person left to send, his son whom he loved. He sent him last of all, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’

⁷“But the farmers said to each other, ‘This son will inherit the vineyard. If we kill him, it will be ours.’ ⁸So they took the son, killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard.

⁹“So what will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and kill those farmers and will give the vineyard to other farmers. ¹⁰Surely you have read this Scripture:

‘The stone that the builders rejected

became the cornerstone.

¹¹The Lord did this,

and it is wonderful to us.’ ”

¹²The Jewish leaders knew that the story was about them. So they wanted to find a way to arrest Jesus, but they were afraid of the people. So the leaders left him and went away.

Is It Right to Pay Taxes or Not?

¹³Later, the Jewish leaders sent some Pharisees and Herodians ⁿ to Jesus to trap him in saying something wrong. ¹⁴They came to him and said, “Teacher, we know that you are an honest man. You are not afraid of what other people think about you, because you pay no attention to who they are. And you teach the truth about God’s way. Tell us: Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not? ¹⁵Should we pay them, or not?”

But knowing what these men were really trying to do, Jesus said to them, “Why are you trying to trap me? Bring me a coin to look at.” ¹⁶They gave Jesus a coin, and he asked, “Whose image and name are on the coin?”

They answered, “Caesar’s.”

¹⁷Then Jesus said to them, “Give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and give to God the things that are God’s.” The men were amazed at what Jesus said.

Some Sadducees Try to Trick Jesus

¹⁸Then some Sadducees came to Jesus and asked him a question. (Sadducees believed that people would not rise from the dead.) ¹⁹They said, “Teacher, Moses wrote that if a man’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no children, then that man must marry the widow and have children for his brother. ²⁰Once there were seven brothers. The first brother married and died, leaving no children. ²¹So the second brother married the widow, but he also died and had no children. The same thing happened with the third brother. ²²All seven brothers married her and died, and none of the brothers had any children. Finally the woman died too. ²³Since all seven brothers had married her, when people rise from the dead, whose wife will she be?”

²⁴Jesus answered, “Why don’t you understand? Don’t you know what the Scriptures say, and don’t you know about the power of God? ²⁵When people rise from the dead, they will not marry, nor will they be given to someone to marry. They will be like the angels in heaven. ²⁶Surely you have read what God said about people rising from the dead. In the book in which Moses wrote about the burning bush, ⁿ it says that God told Moses, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ ^{n 27}God is the God of the living, not the dead. You Sadducees are wrong!”

The Most Important Command

²⁸One of the teachers of the law came and heard Jesus arguing with the Sadducees. Seeing that Jesus gave good answers to their questions, he asked Jesus, “Which of the commands is most important?”

²⁹Jesus answered, “The most important command is this: ‘Listen, people of Israel! The Lord our God is the only Lord. ³⁰Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ ^{n 31}The second command is this: ‘Love your neighbor as you love yourself.’ ⁿ There are no commands more important than these.”

³²The man answered, “That was a good answer, Teacher. You were right when you said God is the only Lord and there is no other God besides him. ³³One must love God with all his heart, all his mind, and all his strength. And one must love his neighbor as he loves himself. These commands are more important than all the animals and sacrifices we offer to God.”

³⁴When Jesus saw that the man answered him wisely, Jesus said to him, “You are close to the kingdom of God.” And after that, no one was brave enough to ask Jesus any more questions.

³⁵As Jesus was teaching in the Temple, he asked, “Why do the teachers of the law say that the Christ is the son of David? ³⁶David himself, speaking by the Holy Spirit, said:

‘The Lord said to my Lord,

“Sit by me at my right side,

until I put your enemies under your control.” ’

³⁷David himself calls the Christ ‘Lord,’ so how can the Christ be his son?” The large crowd listened to Jesus with pleasure.

³⁸Jesus continued teaching and said, “Beware of the teachers of the law. They like to walk around wearing fancy clothes, and they love for people to greet them with respect in the marketplaces. ³⁹They love to have the most important seats in the synagogues and at feasts. ⁴⁰But they cheat widows and steal their houses and then try to make themselves look good by saying long prayers. They will receive a greater punishment.”

True Giving

⁴¹Jesus sat near the Temple money box and watched the people put in their money. Many rich…