Matthew 20–22

The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard

20“For the kingdom of heaven is like^t a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard.^{u 2}He agreed to pay them a denarius^a for the day and sent them into his vineyard.

³“About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. ⁴He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ ⁵So they went.

“He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. ⁶About five in the afternoon 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,^v 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 five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. ¹⁰So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. ¹¹When they received it, they began to grumble^w against the landowner. ¹²‘These 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^x of the day.’

¹³“But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend.^y Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? ¹⁴Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. ¹⁵Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’^z

¹⁶“So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”^a

Jesus Predicts His Death a Third Time

20:17–19pp—Mk 10:32–34; Lk 18:31–33

¹⁷Now Jesus was going up to Jerusalem. On the way, he took the Twelve aside and said to them, ¹⁸“We are going up to Jerusalem,^b and the Son of Man^c will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law.^d They will condemn him to death ¹⁹and will hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged^e and crucified.^f On the third day^g he will be raised to life!”^h

A Mother’s Request

20:20–28pp—Mk 10:35–45

²⁰Then the mother of Zebedee’s sonsⁱ came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down,^j 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.”^k

²²“You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said to them. “Can you drink the cup^l I am going to drink?”

“We can,” they answered.

²³Jesus said to them, “You will indeed drink from my cup,^m 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.”

²⁴When the ten heard about this, they were indignantⁿ with the two brothers. ²⁵Jesus 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. ²⁶Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant,^{o 27}and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—²⁸just as the Son of Man^p did not come to be served, but to serve,^q and to give his life as a ransom^r for many.”

Two Blind Men Receive Sight

20:29–34pp—Mk 10:46–52; Lk 18:35–43

²⁹As Jesus and his disciples were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed him. ³⁰Two blind men were sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was going by, they shouted, “Lord, Son of David,^s have mercy on us!”

³¹The crowd rebuked them and told them to be quiet, but they shouted all the louder, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!”

³²Jesus stopped and called them. “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked.

³³“Lord,” they answered, “we want our sight.”

³⁴Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight and followed him.

Jesus Comes to Jerusalem as King

21:1–9pp—Mk 11:1–10; Lk 19:29–38 21:4–9pp—Jn 12:12–15

21As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives,^t Jesus sent two disciples, ²saying 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. ³If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.”

⁴This took place to fulfill^u what was spoken through the prophet:

⁵“Say to Daughter Zion,

‘See, your king comes to you,

gentle and riding on a donkey,

and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’ ”^av

⁶The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. ⁷They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on. ⁸A very large crowd spread their cloaks^w on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. ⁹The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted,

“Hosanna^b to the Son of David!”^x

“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”^cy

“Hosanna^d in the highest heaven!”^z

¹⁰When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is this?”

¹¹The crowds answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet^a from Nazareth in Galilee.”

Jesus at the Temple

21:12–16pp—Mk 11:15–18; Lk 19:45–47

¹²Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying^b and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers^c and the benches of those selling doves.^{d 13}“It is written,” he said to them, “ ‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’^ee but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’^f”^f

¹⁴The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them.^{g 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 courts, “Hosanna to the Son of David,”^h they were indignant.ⁱ

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, Lord, have called forth your praise’^g?”^j

¹⁷And he left them and went out of the city to Bethany,^k where he spent the night.

Jesus Curses a Fig Tree

21:18–22pp—Mk 11:12–14,20–24

¹⁸Early in the morning, as Jesus was on his way back to the city, he was hungry. ¹⁹Seeing 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.^l

²⁰When the disciples saw this, they were amazed. “How did the fig tree wither so quickly?” they asked.

²¹Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt,^m 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. ²²If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask forⁿ in prayer.”

The Authority of Jesus Questioned

21:23–27pp—Mk 11:27–33; Lk 20:1–8

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^o are you doing these things?” they asked. “And who gave you this authority?”

²⁴Jesus replied, “I will also ask you one question. If you answer me, I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. ²⁵John’s baptism—where did it come from? Was it from heaven, or of human origin?”

They discussed it among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ ²⁶But if we say, ‘Of human origin’—we are afraid of the people, for they all hold that John was a prophet.”^p

²⁷So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.”

Then he said, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.

The Parable of the Two Sons

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.’^q

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, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors^r and the prostitutes^s are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. ³²For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness,^t and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors^u and the prostitutes^v did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent^w and believe him.

The Parable of the Tenants

21:33–46pp—Mk 12:1–12; Lk 20:9–19

³³“Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted^x a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower.^y Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place.^{z 34}When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants^a to the tenants to collect his fruit.

³⁵“The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third.^{b 36}Then he sent other servants^c to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. ³⁷Last 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.^d Come, let’s kill him^e and take his inheritance.’^{f 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,”^g they replied, “and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants,^h who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.”

⁴²Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:

“ ‘The stone the builders rejected

has become the cornerstone;

the Lord has done this,

and it is marvelous in our eyes’^h?ⁱ

⁴³“Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you^j and given to a people who will produce its fruit. ⁴⁴Anyone who falls on this…