1 Then he began to speak to them in parables: "A man planted a vineyard, set a hedge around it, dug a pit for the winepress, and built a watchtower; then he rented it out to tenant farmers and went abroad.
2 At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenant farmers to collect from them some of the fruit of the vineyard.
3 But they seized him, beat him, and sent him away with nothing.
4 Again he sent another servant to them; they stoned him, wounded him in the head, and sent him off in disgrace.
5 He sent yet another, and that one they killed; and so with many others, beating some and killing others.
6 He still had one son, his beloved; so he sent him also to them last of all, saying, 'They will show respect for my son.'
7 But those tenant farmers said to one another, 'This is the heir. Come on, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.'
8 So they seized him, killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard.
9 What, then, will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenant farmers and give the vineyard to others.
10 Have you not even read this Scripture: 'The stone that the builders discarded, this has become the head of the corner;
11 this came about from the Lord, and it is wonderful in our eyes'?"
12 They wanted to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd, for they realized that he had told the parable against them. So they left him and went away.
13 Then they sent to him some of the Pharisees and the Herodians to trap him in what he said.
14 They came and said to him, "Teacher, we know that you are truthful and are not concerned about anyone; for you do not look at people's outward standing, but teach the way of God in truth. Is it lawful to pay the poll tax to Caesar, or not?
15 Should we pay, or should we not pay?" But knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them, "Why are you testing me? Bring me a denarius so I can look at it."
16 They brought one, and he asked them, "Whose likeness and inscription is this?" They told him, "Caesar's."
17 Jesus answered them, "Pay back to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God." And they were amazed at him.
18 Then some Sadducees, who claim there is no resurrection, came to him and questioned him,
19 "Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if someone's brother dies and leaves a wife behind but leaves no children, his brother is to take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother.
20 Now there were seven brothers. The first took a wife, and when he died he left no offspring.
21 Then the second took her and died, leaving no offspring either; and the third the same way.
22 All seven had her and left no offspring. Last of all, the woman died too.
23 So in the resurrection, when they rise, which of them will she be wife to? For the seven had her as wife."
24 Jesus answered them, "Is this not why you are going astray, since you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God?
25 For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage; they are like the angels in heaven.
26 And as for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God spoke to him, saying, 'I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob'?
27 He is not God of the dead, but God of the living. So you are going far astray."
28 One of the scribes came up and heard them debating; seeing that he had answered them well, he asked him, "Which commandment is first of all?"
29 Jesus answered him, "The first of all the commandments is: 'Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord;
30 and you shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart and with your whole soul and with your whole mind and with your whole strength.' This is the first commandment.
31 And a second is like it, namely this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these."
32 The scribe said to him, "Well said, Teacher! You have spoken truly, that there is one God, and there is no other besides him;
33 and to love him with the whole heart, with the whole understanding, with the whole soul, and with the whole strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices."
34 When Jesus saw that he had answered sensibly, he said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." And after that no one dared to question him any further.
35 As Jesus was teaching in the temple, he responded, "How can the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David?
36 For David himself said by the Holy Spirit, 'The Lord said to my Lord, "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet."'
37 So David himself calls him Lord; then how is he his son?" And the large crowd was listening to him with delight.
38 In his teaching he said to them, "Watch out for the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and like greetings in the marketplaces,
39 and the front seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets,
40 who eat up widows' houses and make long prayers for show. These will receive greater condemnation."
41 Jesus sat down across from the treasury and was watching how the crowd put money into the treasury. Many rich people were putting in large amounts.
42 Then a poor widow came and put in two lepta, which make a quadrans.
43 Calling his disciples to him, he said to them, "Truly I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who have put money into the treasury;
44 for they all put in from their surplus, but she, out of her lack, put in everything she had, all she had to live on."