Mark 11:20–13:37
20 In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. 21 Peter remembered and said to Jesus, “Rabbi,r look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!”
22 “Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. 23 “Trulyf I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them.s 24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.t 25 And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”u [26]g
The Authority of Jesus Questioned
11:27–33pp—Mt 21:23–27; Lk 20:1–8
27 They arrived again in Jerusalem, and while Jesus was walking in the temple courts, the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders came to him. 28 “By what authority are you doing these things?” they asked. “And who gave you authority to do this?”
29 Jesus replied, “I will ask you one question. Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. 30 John’s baptism—was it from heaven, or of human origin? Tell me!”
31 They discussed it among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ 32 But if we say, ‘Of human origin’ …” (They feared the people, for everyone held that John really was a prophet.)v
33 So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.”
Jesus said, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.”
12:1–12pp—Mt 21:33–46; Lk 20:9–19
12 Jesus then began to speak to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard.w He put a wall around it, dug a pit for the winepress and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. 2 At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants to collect from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. 3 But they seized him, beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 4 Then he sent another servant to them; they struck this man on the head and treated him shamefully. 5 He sent still another, and that one they killed. He sent many others; some of them they beat, others they killed.
6 “He had one left to send, a son, whom he loved. He sent him last of all,x saying, ‘They will respect my son.’
7 “But the tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ 8 So they took him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard.
9 “What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others. 10 Haven’t you read this passage of Scripture:
“ ‘The stone the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;y
and it is marvelous in our eyes’a?”z
12 Then the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders looked for a way to arrest him because they knew he had spoken the parable against them. But they were afraid of the crowd;a so they left him and went away.b
Paying the Imperial Tax to Caesar
12:13–17pp—Mt 22:15–22; Lk 20:20–26
13 Later they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodiansc to Jesus to catch himd in his words. 14 They came to him and said, “Teacher, we know that you are a man of integrity. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are; but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right to pay the imperial taxb to Caesar or not? 15 Should we pay or shouldn’t we?”
But Jesus knew their hypocrisy. “Why are you trying to trap me?” he asked. “Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.” 16 They brought the coin, and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”
“Caesar’s,” they replied.
17 Then Jesus said to them, “Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.”e
And they were amazed at him.
12:18–27pp—Mt 22:23–33; Lk 20:27–38
18 Then the Sadducees,f who say there is no resurrection,g came to him with a question. 19 “Teacher,” they said, “Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother.h 20 Now there were seven brothers. The first one married and died without leaving any children. 21 The second one married the widow, but he also died, leaving no child. It was the same with the third. 22 In fact, none of the seven left any children. Last of all, the woman died too. 23 At the resurrectionc whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?”
24 Jesus replied, “Are you not in error because you do not know the Scripturesi or the power of God? 25 When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven.j 26 Now about the dead rising—have you not read in the Book of Moses, in the account of the burning bush, how God said to him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’d?k 27 He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are badly mistaken!”
28 One of the teachers of the lawl came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
29 “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.e 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’f m 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’g n There is no commandment greater than these.”
32 “Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him.o 33 To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”p
34 When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.”q And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions.r
12:35–37pp—Mt 22:41–46; Lk 20:41–44
12:38–40pp—Mt 23:1–7; Lk 20:45–47
35 While Jesus was teaching in the temple courts,s he asked, “Why do the teachers of the law say that the Messiah is the son of David?t 36 David himself, speaking by the Holy Spirit,u declared:
“ ‘The Lord said to my Lord:
“Sit at my right hand
until I put your enemies
37 David himself calls him ‘Lord.’ How then can he be his son?”
The large crowdw listened to him with delight.
Warning Against the Teachers of the Law
38 As he taught, Jesus said, “Watch out for the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, 39 and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets.x 40 They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. These men will be punished most severely.”
41 Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were puty and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. 42 But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents.
43 Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. 44 They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”z
The Destruction of the Temple and Signs of the End Times
13:1–37pp—Mt 24:1–51; Lk 21:5–36
13 As Jesus was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!”
2 “Do you see all these great buildings?” replied Jesus. “Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”a
3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olivesb opposite the temple, Peter, James, Johnc and Andrew asked him privately, 4 “Tell us, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are all about to be fulfilled?”
5 Jesus said to them: “Watch out that no one deceives you.d 6 Many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and will deceive many. 7 When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 8 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains.
9 “You must be on your guard. You will be handed over to the local councils and flogged in the synagogues.e On account of me you will stand before governors and kings as witnesses to them. 10 And the gospel must first be preached to all nations. 11 Whenever you are arrested and brought to trial, do not worry beforehand about what to say. Just say whatever is given you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit.f
12 “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death.g 13 Everyone will hate you because of me,h but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.i
14 “When you see ‘the abomination that causes desolation’a j standing where itb does not belong—let the reader understand—then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 15 Let no one on the housetop go down or enter the house to take anything out. 16 Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. 17 How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers!k 18 Pray that this will not take place in winter, 19 because those will be days of distress unequaled from the beginning, when God created the world,l until now—and never to be equaled again.m
20 “If the Lord had not cut short those days, no one would survive. But for the sake of the elect, whom he has chosen, he has shortened them. 21 At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is …