Matthew

When they drew near Jerusalem and arrived at Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples,

saying:

“Go to the village ahead, and there you will find a donkey tied up with her colt. Untie them and bring them to me.

If anyone says something to you, say that the Lord needs them and that he will send them back immediately.”

This happened to fulfill what the prophet said:

Say to the daughter of Zion:

See, your king comes to you

in all humility, riding on a donkey,

a beast of burden, with its colt.

The disciples went, as Jesus had instructed them

and they brought the donkey with its colt. Then they laid their cloaks on its back, and Jesus sat on them.

Many people also lay their cloaks on the road, while others cut leafy branches from the trees and spread them on the road.

The people walking ahead of Jesus and those following him started shouting:

“Hosanna to the Son of David!

Blessed is he who comes

in the name of the Lord!

Hosanna in the highest!”

When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the entire city was stirred up. The people asked:

“Who is this man?”

And the crowd answered:

“This is the Prophet Jesus from Nazareth of Galilee.”

Jesus went into the temple and drove out everyone buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the moneychangers and the stools of those selling pigeons.

And he said to them:

“It is written: My house shall be called a house of prayer. But you have turned it into a den of thieves.”

The blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and Jesus healed them.

The chief priests and teachers of the law saw the amazing things Jesus did and the children shouting in the temple area, “Hosanna to the Son of David!”

They became angry and said to Jesus:

“Do you hear what they say?”

Jesus answered them:

“Yes. But have you never read this text:

From the mouths of children and infants

you have perfect praise?”

So, leaving them, he went out of the city and stayed in Bethany for the night.

While returning to the city early in the morning, Jesus felt hungry.

He saw a fig tree by the road, approached it, and found only leaves.

So he told the tree:

“Never again bear fruit!”

Immediately, the fig tree withered.

When the disciples saw this, they were astonished and asked:

“How did the fig tree suddenly dry up?”

Jesus said:

“Truly, I say to you: if you have faith and do not doubt, not only could you do what I did to the fig tree, but you could even say to that mountain, ‘Go and throw yourself into the sea!’ and it would be done.

Whatever you ask for in prayer, full of faith, you will receive.”

Jesus had entered the temple and was teaching, when the chief priests, the teachers of the law, and the Jewish authorities came to him and asked:

“What authority do you have to act like this? Who gave you the authority to do all this?”

Jesus answered them:

“I will also ask you one question. If you answer me, then I will also tell you by what authority I do these things.

Where did John’s baptism come from? From heaven or from people?”

They discussed this among themselves, saying:

“If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’

And if we say, ‘The baptism of John was merely something human,’ we need to be cautious of the people, because they all consider John to be a prophet.

So they replied to Jesus:

“We do not know.”

And Jesus said to them:

“Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

Jesus continued, saying: “What do you think of this? A man had two sons. He went to the first and said to him, ‘Son, go and work today in my vineyard.’”

And the son replied: ‘I don’t want to.’ But later, he reconsidered and went.

Then the father went to his other son and said the same thing to him. This son replied: ‘I will go, sir,’ but he did not go.

Which of the two did what the father wanted?”

They answered:

“The first.”

And Jesus said to them:

“Truly, I tell you: tax collectors and the prostitutes are ahead of you on the way to the kingdom of heaven.

For John came to show you the way of goodness, and you did not believe him, but tax collectors and the prostitutes did. You witnessed this, yet you neither repented nor believed him.

Listen to another example: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He fenced it, dug a winepress, built a watchtower, leased the vineyard to tenants, and then went to a distant country.

When harvest time arrived, the landowner sent his servants to the tenants to collect his portion of the harvest.

But the tenants seized his servants, beat one, killed another, and stoned a third.

Once more, the owner sent additional servants, but they were treated the same way.

Finally, he sent his son, thinking, ‘They will respect my son.’

But when the tenants saw the son, they thought, ‘This is the one who is to inherit the vineyard. Let us kill him, and his inheritance will be ours.’

They seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.

Now, what will the vineyard owner do with the tenants when he comes?

They told him:

“He will bring those wicked men to a wicked end and lease the vineyard to others, who will pay him in due time.”

And Jesus replied:

“Have you never read what the Scriptures say?

The stone the builders rejected

has become the cornerstone.

This was the LORD’s doing,

and we marvel at it.

Therefore, I tell you: the kingdom of heaven will be taken from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.

[Whoever falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and on whomsoever this stone falls, he will be ground to dust.]”

When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard these parables, they understood that Jesus was talking about them.

They would have arrested him, but they were afraid of the crowd, who regarded him as a prophet.