1 One day during that week, Jesus was teaching the people in the Temple courtyard and telling them God’s good message. As he was doing that, the chief priests, the men who taught the Jewish laws, and other Jewish elders came to him. 2 They asked him, “Tell us, by what authority are you doing these things? Who authorized you to do things like you did here yesterday?” 3 He replied, “I will also ask you a question. Tell me, 4 where did John the Baptizer get his authority to baptize those who came to him? Did he get it from God [MTY/EUP] or from people?” 5 They discussed this among themselves. They said, “If we(inc) say, ‘It was from God [MTY/EUP],’ he will say to us, ‘Then ◄you should have believed John’s message!/why did you not believe what John preached?► [RHQ]’ 6 But if we say, ‘It was from people,’ the people here will kill us by throwing stones at us, because they all believe that John was a prophet from God.” 7 So they replied, “We (exc) do not know where John got his authority.” 8 Then Jesus said to them, “Because you did not answer my question, I will not tell you who authorized me to do those things here yesterday.”

9 Then Jesus told the people this parable to illustrate what God would do to the Jews who rejected the former prophets and himself: “A certain man planted a vineyard. He rented the vineyard to some men to care for it and to give him some of the grapes in return. Then he went to another country and stayed there several years. 10 When the vines started producing grapes, he sent a servant to the men who were taking care of the vineyard. He expected that they would give him some of the grapes that the vineyard had produced. But after the servant arrived, they beat him and they did not give him any grapes. They just sent him away. 11  Later, the owner sent another servant. But they beat him and mistreated him also. They sent him away without giving him any grapes. 12  Still later, the owner sent another servant. That one they wounded and threw him out of the vineyard. 13 So the owner of the vineyard thought to himself, ‘◄I do not know what to do!/What shall I do?► [RHQ]’ Then he had an idea. He thought to himself, ‘I will send my son, whom I love very much. Perhaps they will respect him and give him my share of the grapes.’ 14  So he sent his son, but when the men who were caring for the vineyard saw him coming, they said to each other, ‘Here comes the man who will some day inherit the vineyard. Let’s kill him so that this vineyard will be ours!’ 15 So they dragged him outside the vineyard and they killed him. So ◄I will tell you what the owner of the vineyard will do to them!/do you know what the owner of the vineyard will do to them?► [RHQ] 16 He will come and kill those men who were taking care of the vineyard. Then he will arrange for other people to take care of it.” When the people listening to Jesus heard that, they said, “We would not do anything like those wicked men did!” 17 But Jesus looked directly at them and said, “You can say that, but think about the meaning of these words that are written {which a prophet wrote} [RHQ] in the Scriptures,

18  That stone represents me, the Messiah, and those who reject me are like people who fall on this stone. Everyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces {This stone will break to pieces everyone who falls on it}, and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.”

19 The chief priests and the men who taught the Jewish laws realized that he was accusing them when he told the parable about what those wicked men did. So they immediately tried to find a way to seize [MTY] him, but they did not seize him, because they were afraid of what the people there would do if they did that. 20 So they watched him carefully. They also hired ◄spies/secret agents► who pretended to be sincere. But they really wanted to get him to say something for which they could accuse him. They wanted to be able to turn him over to the authority of the governor of the province. But they also knew that the Jews were disgusted with having to pay taxes to the government. 21  So one of them asked Jesus, “Teacher, we (exc) know that you (sg) speak and teach what is right. You tell the truth even if important people do not like it. You teach truthfully what God wants us to do. 22  So tell us what you think about this matter: Is it right that we pay taxes to the Roman government [MTY], or not?” 23 But Jesus knew that they were trying to trick him to get him into trouble, either with the Jews, who hated to pay those taxes, or with the Roman government. So he said to them, 24 “Show me a Roman coin. Then tell me whose picture is on it. And tell me whose name is on it.” They showed him a coin and said, “It has the picture and name of Caesar, the head of the Roman government.” 25 He said to them, “In that case, give to the government [MTY] what they require, and give to God what he requires.” 26 While the people were there, the spies were unable to find fault with him for what he said. And they were amazed at his answer. So they said nothing.

27 Some Sadducees came to Jesus. They are a Jewish sect who do not believe that people will become alive again after they die. 28 They wanted to ask Jesus a question in order to discredit the idea that dead people will live again. One of them said to Jesus, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us Jews about situations where a man who has a wife but no children. If the man dies, his brother should marry the dead man’s widow so that she can have a child by him. People will consider that the child is the descendant of the man who died, and in that way the dead man will have descendants. 29 Well, there were seven brothers in one family. The oldest one married, but he and his wife did not bear any children. Later he died. 30 The second brother followed this law and married the widow, but the same thing happened to him. 31 Then the third brother married her, but the same thing happened again. All seven brothers, one by one, married that woman, but they had no children, and one by one they died. 32 Afterwards, the woman died, too. 33 Therefore, if it is true that there will be a time when dead people will become alive again, whose wife do you think that woman will be then? ◄Keep in mind that she was married to all seven brothers!/It will be impossible to decide because she was married to all seven brothers!► [RHQ]” 34 Jesus replied to them, “Men who live here in this world take wives, or are given wives by their parents {their parents choose wives for them}. 35 But the men whom God considers worthy of being in heaven after they become alive again will not be married. 36  You need to know also that they cannot die any more, because they will be immortal [SIM] like angels. The fact that God has caused them to be alive again will show that they are God’s children. 37 But as for people becoming alive again after they die, Moses wrote something about that. In the place where he wrote about the burning bush, he mentions the Lord as being the God whom Abraham worships and the God whom Isaac worships and the God whom Jacob worships. 38 It is not dead people who worship God. It is living people who worship him. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob died long before Moses lived, but God said that they were still worshipping him, so we(inc) know their spirits were still alive! All people whose spirits are alive again after they die continue to live to honor God!”

39 Some of the men who taught the Jewish laws replied, “Teacher, you (sg) have answered very well!” 40 After that, they no longer dared to ask him any more questions like that to try to trap him.

41 Then Jesus said to them, “I will show you (OR, prove to you) that people are wrong who say that the Messiah is merely a descendant of King David! [RHQ] 42 Because David himself wrote about the Messiah in the book of Psalms,

44 King David calls the Messiah ‘my Lord’! So ◄the Messiah cannot be just someone descended from King David!/how can the Messiah be just someone descended from King David?► [RHQ] What I just said proves that he is much greater than David, isn’t that right?”

45 While all the other people were listening, Jesus said to his disciples, 46 “Beware that you do not act like the men who teach our Jewish laws. They like to put on long robes and walk around to make people think that they are very important. They also like people to greet them respectfully in the marketplaces. They like to sit in the most important places in the Jewish meeting places. At dinner parties they like to sit in the seats where the most honored people sit. 47 They swindle [MET] the houses and property of widows. Then they pretend they are good, as they pray long prayers publicly. God will certainly punish them very severely.”