Study Desk

For John the Baptist came and showed you the right way to live, but you didn't believe him, while tax collectors and prostitutes did. And even when you saw this happening, you refused to believe him and repent of your sins.

But the farmers grabbed his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another.

So the landowner sent a larger group of his servants to collect for him, but the results were the same.

"But when the tenant farmers saw his son coming, they said to one another, ‘Here comes the heir to this estate. Come on, let's kill him and get the estate for ourselves!'

They wanted to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowds, who considered Jesus to be a prophet.

When the banquet was ready, he sent his servants to notify those who were invited. But they all refused to come!

But the guests he had invited ignored them and went their own way, one to his farm, another to his business.

"But when the king came in to meet the guests, he noticed a man who wasn't wearing the proper clothes for a wedding.

‘Friend,' he asked, ‘how is it that you are here without wedding clothes?' But the man had no reply.

"For many are called, but few are chosen."

But Jesus knew their evil motives. "You hypocrites!" he said. "Why are you trying to trap me?

But the second brother also died, and the third brother married her. This continued with all seven of them.

"But now, as to whether there will be a resurrection of the dead—haven't you ever read about this in the Scriptures? Long after Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had died, God said,

But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees with his reply, they met together to question him again.

So practice and obey whatever they tell you, but don't follow their example. For they don't practice what they teach.

But those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

"Blind guides! What sorrow awaits you! For you say that it means nothing to swear ‘by God's Temple,' but that it is binding to swear ‘by the gold in the Temple.'

And you say that to swear ‘by the altar' is not binding, but to swear ‘by the gifts on the altar' is binding.

"What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore the more important aspects of the law—justice, mercy, and faith. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things.

Blind guides! You strain your water so you won't accidentally swallow a gnat, but you swallow a camel!