A Story about Vineyard Workers

20 “The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out at daybreak to hire workers for his vineyard. ² After agreeing to pay the workers the usual day’s wages, he sent them to work in his vineyard. ³ About 9 a.m. he saw others standing in the marketplace without work. ⁴ He said to them, ‘Work in my vineyard, and I’ll give you whatever is right.’ So they went.

⁵ “He went out again about noon and 3 p.m. and did the same thing. ⁶ About 5 p.m. he went out and found some others standing around. He said to them, ‘Why are you standing here all day long without work?’

⁷ “ ‘No one has hired us,’ they answered him.

“He said to them, ‘Work in my vineyard.’

⁸ “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard told the supervisor, ‘Call the workers, and give them their wages. Start with the last, and end with the first.’

⁹ “Those who started working about 5 p.m. came, and each received a day’s wages. ¹⁰ When those who had been hired first came, they expected to receive more. But each of them received a day’s wages. ¹¹ Although they took it, they began to protest to the owner. ¹² They said, ‘These last workers have worked only one hour. Yet, you’ve treated us all the same, even though we worked hard all day under a blazing sun.’

¹³ “The owner said to one of them, ‘Friend, I’m not treating you unfairly. Didn’t you agree with me on a day’s wages? ¹⁴ Take your money and go! I want to give this last worker as much as I gave you. ¹⁵ Can’t I do what I want with my own money? Or do you resent my generosity towards others?’

¹⁶ “In this way the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

For the Third Time Jesus Foretells That He Will Die and Come Back to Life^(A)

¹⁷ When Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem, he took the twelve apostles aside and said to them privately, ¹⁸ “We’re going to Jerusalem. There the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and the experts in Moses’ Teachings. They will condemn him to death ¹⁹ and hand him over to foreigners. They will make fun of him, whip him, and crucify him. But on the third day he will be brought back to life.”

A Mother Makes a Request^(B)

²⁰ Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus with her two sons. She bowed down in front of him to ask him for a favor.

²¹ “What do you want?” he asked her.

She said to him, “Promise that one of my sons will sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.”

²² Jesus replied, “You don’t realize what you’re asking. Can you drink the cup that I’m going to drink?”

“We can,” they told him.

²³ Jesus said to them, “You will drink my cup. But I don’t have the authority to grant you a seat at my right or left. My Father has already prepared these positions for certain people.”

²⁴ When the other ten apostles heard about this, they were irritated with the two brothers. ²⁵ Jesus called the apostles and said, “You know that the rulers of nations have absolute power over people and their officials have absolute authority over people. ²⁶ But that’s not the way it’s going to be among you. Whoever wants to become great among you will be your servant. ²⁷ Whoever wants to be most important among you will be your slave. ²⁸ It’s the same way with the Son of Man. He didn’t come so that others could serve him. He came to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many people.”

Jesus Gives Two Blind Men Their Sight^(C)

²⁹ As they were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed Jesus. ³⁰ Two blind men were sitting by the road. When they heard that Jesus was passing by, they shouted, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!”

³¹ The crowd told them to be quiet. But they shouted even louder, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!”

³² Jesus stopped and called them. “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked.

³³ They told him, “Lord, we want you to give us our eyesight back.”

³⁴ Jesus felt sorry for them, so he touched their eyes. Their sight was restored at once, and they followed him.

The King Comes to Jerusalem^(D)

21 When they came near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples ahead of him. ² He said to them, “Go into the village ahead of you. You will find a donkey tied there and a colt with it. Untie them, and bring them to me. ³ If anyone says anything to you, tell him that the Lord needs them. That person will send them at once.”

⁴ This happened so that what the prophet had said came true:

⁶ The disciples did as Jesus had directed them. ⁷ They brought the donkey and the colt and put their coats on them for Jesus to sit on. ⁸ Most of the people spread their coats on the road. Others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. ⁹ The crowd that went ahead of him and that followed him was shouting,

¹⁰ When Jesus came into Jerusalem, the whole city was in an uproar. People were asking, “Who is this?”

¹¹ The crowd answered, “This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.”

Jesus Throws Out the Moneychangers^(E)

¹² Jesus went into the temple courtyard and threw out everyone who was buying and selling there. He overturned the moneychangers’ tables and the chairs of those who sold pigeons. ¹³ He told them, “Scripture says, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you’re turning it into a gathering place for thieves!”

¹⁴ Blind and lame people came to him in the temple courtyard, and he healed them.

¹⁵ When the chief priests and the experts in Moses’ Teachings saw the amazing miracles he performed and the children shouting in the temple courtyard, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were irritated. ¹⁶ They said to him, “Do you hear what these children are saying?”

Jesus replied, “Yes, I do. Have you never read, ‘From the mouths of little children and infants, you have created praise’?”

¹⁷ He left them and went out of the city to Bethany and spent the night there.

Jesus Curses the Fig Tree^(F)

¹⁸ In the morning, as Jesus returned to the city, he became hungry. ¹⁹ When he saw a fig tree by the road, he went up to the tree and found nothing on it but leaves. He said to the tree, “May fruit never grow on you again!” At once the fig tree dried up.

²⁰ The disciples were surprised to see this. They asked, “How did the fig tree dry up so quickly?”

²¹ Jesus answered them, “I can guarantee this truth: If you have faith and do not doubt, you will be able to do what I did to the fig tree. You could also say to this mountain, ‘Be uprooted and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. ²² Have faith that you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”

Jesus’ Authority Challenged^(G)

²³ Then Jesus went into the temple courtyard and began to teach. The chief priests and the leaders of the people came to him. They asked, “What gives you the right to do these things? Who told you that you could do this?”

²⁴ Jesus answered them, “I, too, have a question for you. If you answer it for me, I’ll tell you why I have the right to do these things. ²⁵ Did John’s right to baptize come from heaven or from humans?”

They discussed this among themselves. They said, “If we say, ‘from heaven,’ he will ask us, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ ²⁶ But if we say, ‘from humans,’ we’re afraid of what the crowd might do. All those people think of John as a prophet.” ²⁷ So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.”

Jesus told them, “Then I won’t tell you why I have the right to do these things.

A Story about Two Sons

²⁸ “What do you think about this? A man had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go to work in the vineyard today.’

²⁹ “His son replied, ‘I don’t want to!’ But later he changed his mind and went.

³⁰ “The father went to the other son and told him the same thing. He replied, ‘I will, sir,’ but he didn’t go.

³¹ “Which of the two sons did what the father wanted?”

“The first,” they answered.

Jesus said to them, “I can guarantee this truth: Tax collectors and prostitutes are going into God’s kingdom ahead of you. ³² John came to you and showed you the way that God wants you to live, but you didn’t believe him. The tax collectors and prostitutes believed him. But even after you had seen that, you didn’t change your minds and believe him.

A Story about a Vineyard^(H)

³³ “Listen to another illustration. A landowner planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, made a winepress, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to vineyard workers and went on a trip.

³⁴ “When the grapes were getting ripe, he sent his servants to the workers to collect his share of the produce. ³⁵ The workers took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned a third to death. ³⁶ So the landowner sent more servants. But the workers treated them the same way.

³⁷ “Finally, he sent his son to them. He thought, ‘They will respect my son.’

³⁸ “When the workers saw his son, they said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Let’s kill him and get his inheritance.’ ³⁹ So they grabbed him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.

⁴⁰ “Now, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those workers?”

⁴¹ They answered, “He will destroy those evil people. Then he will lease the vineyard to other workers who will give him his share of the produce when it is ready.”

⁴² Jesus asked them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:

⁴³ That is why I can guarantee that God’s kingdom will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce what God wants. ⁴⁴ Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken. If the stone falls on anyone, it will crush that person.” ^[a]

⁴⁵ When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his illustrations, they knew that he was talking about them. ⁴⁶ They wanted to arrest him but were afraid of the crowds, who thought he was a prophet.