1 Then He began to speak to them in stories. "A man once planted a vineyard and fenced it in and hewed out a wine-vat and built a watchtower; then he rented it to tenant farmers, and went abroad. 2 At the proper time he sent a slave to the tenants to collect his part of the grape crop. 3 But they took him and beat him and sent him back empty-handed. 4 And again he sent another slave to them, and they beat his head and treated him shamefully. 5 Then he sent a third one, and they killed him, and many others, some of whom they beat, some they killed.
6 He had one more to send, his dearly loved son; at last he sent him to them, for he said to himself, 'They will surely respect my son.'
7 But those tenants said among themselves, 'This is his heir; come on, let us kill him, and all that is coming to him will be ours.' 8 So they took him and killed him, and threw his body outside the vineyard.
9 Now what will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come back and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others. 10 Have you never read this passage of Scripture: "'That stone which the builders threw away has now become the cornerstone; 11 This is the work of the Lord, and seems wonderful to us'?"
12 Then they were trying to have Him arrested, but they were afraid of the people, for they knew that He aimed this story at them. And so they left Him and went away.
13 Then they sent some Pharisees and Herodians to Him to trap Him in argument. 14 And they came up and said to Him, "We know that you always tell the truth, and pay no personal consideration to anyone, but teach the way of God honestly. Is it right to pay poll-tax to Caesar, or not? 15 Should we pay it, or should we not?" Now because He saw their pretense, He said to them, "Why are you testing me so? Bring me a twenty-cent coin to look at." 16 And they brought Him one. Then He asked them, "Whose picture and title is this?" They answered Him, "Caesar's."
17 So He said, "Pay Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and pay God what belongs to God." And they were utterly dumbfounded at Him.
18 Then some Sadducees, who claim that there is no resurrection, came up to Him and asked Him this question, 19 "Teacher, Moses gave us a law that if a man's brother died leaving a wife but no child, the man must marry the widow and raise up a family for his brother. 20 There were once seven brothers. The eldest married a wife and on dying left no child, 21 and the second married her and died leaving no child; and so did the third. 22 And not one of the seven left a child. At last the woman died too. 23 Now at the resurrection, which one's wife will she be? For all seven of them married her."
24 Jesus said to them, "Does not this prove that you are wrong in your views, because you do not understand either the Scriptures or the power of God? 25 For when people rise from the dead, men do not marry and women are not married, but continue to live together as the angels in heaven do. 26 But as to the rising of the dead, did you never read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God said to him, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? 27 He is not the God of dead but of living people! You are entirely wrong in your views."
28 Then one of the scribes, on hearing them arguing, came up, and since he saw that Jesus had answered them properly, he asked Him, "What sort of command is the first of all commands?"
29 Jesus answered, "The first one is, 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord, 30 and you must love the Lord your God with your whole heart, your whole soul, your whole mind, and your whole strength.'
31 And this is the second, 'You must love your neighbor as you do yourself.' No other command is greater than these."
32 Then the scribe said to Him, "Indeed, Teacher, you have properly said that He is one by Himself, and there is no other but Him, 33 and to love Him with one's whole heart, one's whole understanding, and one's whole strength, and to love one's neighbor as one loves himself is far more than all the burnt-offerings and sacrifices."
34 So Jesus said to him, as He saw that he had answered thoughtfully, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." And no one ventured to ask Him any more questions.
35 While He was teaching in the temple, He answered them and said, "How can the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David? 36 David himself, Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, said: 'The Lord has said to my Lord, "Sit at my right hand Until I make your enemies the footstool of your feet."'
37 David himself called him Lord, so how can He be his son?" Most of the people liked to hear Him.
38 And in His teaching He continued to say: "Beware of the scribes who like to go about in long robes, to be saluted with honor in public places, 39 to be seated in the front seats in the synagogues, to occupy the places of honor at banquets -- 40 men who eat up widows' houses and to cover it up make long prayers. They will get a much heavier sentence!"
41 Then He sat down in front of the collection-box and was watching the people as they dropped their money into it. And many rich people were dropping in large sums. 42 Then a poor widow came and dropped in two little copper coins, which make scarcely a cent. 43 And He called His disciples to Him and said, "I solemnly say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all these others who have been putting money into the collection-box. 44 For all of them put in out of their surplus, but she in her want put in all she had, yes, all she had to live on."