MarkChapter 12

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¹Then Jesus began to speak to them in parables. "A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it. He dug a pit for a winepress. He built a watchtower. Then he rented it out to some farmers and went away on a trip. ²At harvest time he sent a servant to the farmers. The servant was to collect the owner's share of the fruit from the vineyard. ³But they grabbed the servant and beat him. They sent him away with nothing. ⁴Then the owner sent them another servant. They hit this one on the head and treated him shamefully. ⁵He sent yet another, and they killed this one. He sent many others. Some they beat, and some they killed. ⁶He had one son left, whom he loved. At last he sent him to them. 'They will respect my son,' he said. ⁷But the farmers said to one another, 'This is the heir. He will get everything someday. Come, let's kill him. Then everything he would get will be ours.'a ⁸So they grabbed the son and killed him. They threw him out of the vineyard. ⁹So what will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and kill those farmers. He will give the vineyard to others. ¹⁰Haven't you ever read this Scripture? 'The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. ¹¹The Lord has done this, and it is wonderful in our eyes.'" ¹²Then the leaders wanted to arrest Jesus, because they knew he had told this parable against them. But they were afraid of the crowd. So they left him and went away. ¹³Later they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Jesus. They wanted to trap him with his own words. ¹⁴"Teacher," they said, "we know that you are honest. You don't try to win anyone's favor. You treat all people the same. You teach the way of God truthfully. Does the law allow us to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Should we pay them or not?" ¹⁵But Jesus saw that they were pretending. He said, "Why are you testing me? Bring me a denarius so I can look at it."b ¹⁶So they brought one. He asked them, "Whose picture is this? And whose words are written on it?" "Caesar's," they answered. ¹⁷Then Jesus told them, "Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar. And give to God what belongs to God." And they were amazed at him. ¹⁸Then the Sadducees came to Jesus. They say that the dead do not rise again. They asked him a question. ¹⁹"Teacher, Moses wrote a law for us. If a man's brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry his brother's widow. He must have children for his brother. ²⁰Now there were seven brothers. The first one got married. He died and left no children. ²¹Then the second one married the widow. But he died too and left no children. The third one did the same. ²²So none of the seven left any children. Last of all, the woman died too. ²³So when the dead rise again, whose wife will she be? For all seven were married to her." ²⁴Jesus said to them, "Aren't you wrong because you don't know the Scriptures or the power of God? ²⁵When the dead rise, they will not marry. They will not be given in marriage. Instead, they will be like the angels in heaven. ²⁶Now, about the dead rising. Haven't you read in the Book of Moses about the burning bush? God told Moses, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.' ²⁷He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are very wrong!" ²⁸One of the scribes had come up and heard them arguing. He saw how well Jesus had answered them. So he asked him, "Which commandment is the most important of all?" ²⁹Jesus answered, "This is the most important one: 'Hear, O Israel. The Lord our God, the Lord is One. ³⁰Love the Lord your God with all your heart. Love him with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.' ³¹The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' No other commandment is greater than these." ³²"That's right, Teacher," the scribe said. "You have said it truly. God is One, and there is no other but him. ³³You said we must love him with all our heart, with all our understanding, and with all our strength. And we must love our neighbor as ourselves. This is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices." ³⁴Jesus saw that the man had answered wisely. He said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." After that, no one dared to ask him any more questions. ³⁵Jesus was teaching in the temple courts. He asked, "How can the scribes say that the Messiah is the Son of David? ³⁶David himself spoke by the Holy Spirit. He said, 'The Lord said to my Lord, "Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet."' ³⁷David himself calls him 'Lord.' So how can he be David's son?" The large crowd listened to him with joy. ³⁸As Jesus taught, he also said, "Watch out for the scribes. They like to walk around in long robes. They like people to greet them in the marketplaces. ³⁹They like to have the best seats in the synagogues. They like the places of honor at big dinners. ⁴⁰They cheat widows out of their houses. They make long prayers to show off. These men will be punished more."c ⁴¹Jesus sat down across from the temple offering box. He watched the crowd putting money into it. Many rich people put in large amounts.d ⁴²Then a poor widow came. She put in two very small copper coins. They were worth only a tiny part of a day's pay.e ⁴³Jesus called his disciples to him. He said, "I tell you the truth. This poor widow has put more into the offering box than all the others. ⁴⁴For they all gave out of what they had extra. But she is poor, and she put in everything she had to live on."