Study Desk

They thought it over and said to each other, "We can't say that God gave John this right. Jesus will ask us why we didn't believe John.

The renters grabbed the servant. They beat him up and sent him away without a thing.

Then the man sent another servant, and they killed him. He kept sending servant after servant. They beat some of them and killed others.

So they grabbed the owner's son and killed him. Then they threw his body out of the vineyard.

The leaders knew that Jesus was really talking about them, and they wanted to arrest him. But because they were afraid of the crowd, they let him alone and left.

They went to him and said, "Teacher, we know that you are honest. You treat everyone with the same respect, no matter who they are. And you teach the truth about what God wants people to do. Tell us, should we pay taxes to the Emperor or not?"

Jesus knew what they were up to, and he said, "Why are you trying to test me? Show me a coin!"

They brought him a silver coin, and he asked, "Whose picture and name are on it?" "The Emperor's," they answered.

As Jesus was teaching, he said: Guard against the teachers of the Law of Moses! They love to walk around in long robes and be greeted in the market.

They like the front seats in the meeting places and the best seats at banquets.

But they cheat widows out of their homes and pray long prayers just to show off. They will be punished most of all.

Everyone else gave what they didn't need. But she is very poor and gave everything she had. Now she doesn't have a cent to live on.

Many will come and claim to be me. They will use my name and fool many people.

False messiahs and false prophets will come and work miracles and signs. They will even try to fool God's chosen ones.

It was now two days before Passover and the Festival of Thin Bread. The chief priests and the teachers of the Law of Moses were planning how they could sneak around and have Jesus arrested and put to death.

This made some of the guests angry, and they complained, "Why such a waste?

We could have sold this perfume for more than three hundred silver coins and given the money to the poor!" So they started saying cruel things to the woman.

You may be sure that wherever the good news is told all over the world, people will remember what she has done. And they will tell others.

They were glad to hear this, and they promised to pay him. So Judas started looking for a good chance to betray Jesus.

The two disciples went into the city and found everything just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover meal.