Mark - Chapter 12

Passage

And he began to speak to them in parables: A man planted a vineyard and put a hedge around it, and dug a pit for the winepress, and built a tower, and leased it to tenants, and went into a far country. And at harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants to receive from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. But they seized him, beat him, and sent him away empty-handed. And again he sent them another servant; and they wounded him in the head and treated him shamefully. And again he sent another, and they killed him; and many others, some of whom they beat and others they killed. He still had one son, most dear to him; he sent him to them last of all, saying: They will respect my son. But the tenants said to one another: This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be ours. And they seized him, killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard. What then will the lord of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others. Have you not read this scripture: The stone that the builders rejected has become the head of the corner; By the Lord has this been done, and it is wonderful in our eyes. And they wanted to arrest him, but they feared the people, for they knew that he had told this parable against them. And leaving him, they went away. And they sent to him some of the Pharisees and Herodians to catch him in his words. They came and said to him: Master, we know that you are truthful and do not care about anyone's opinion; for you do not look at the outward appearance of people, but teach the way of God in truth. Is it lawful to pay tribute to Caesar, or not? Shall we pay it? But knowing their cunning, he says to them: Why do you test me? Bring me a penny so that I may see it. And they brought it to him. And he says to them: Whose image and inscription is this? They say to him: Caesar's. And Jesus said to them: Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's. And they marveled at him. And the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him and asked him: Master, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, his brother should marry the widow and raise up children for his brother. Now there were seven brothers. The first took a wife and died, leaving no children. And the second married her and died, and he also left no children; and the third likewise. And all seven married her and left no children. Last of all the woman also died. In the resurrection, then, when they rise again, whose wife shall she be? For all seven had her as wife. And Jesus said to them: Are you not mistaken because you do not know the scriptures or the power of God? For when they rise from the dead, they shall neither marry nor be given in marriage, but are like the angels in heaven. And as for the dead rising again, have you not read in the book of Moses how God spoke to him in the bush, saying: I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. So you are greatly mistaken. And one of the scribes, who had heard them arguing and saw that he had answered them well, came and asked him which was the first commandment of all. And Jesus answered him: The first commandment of all is: Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God is one God. 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. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these. And the scribe said to him: Well, Master, you have said in truth that there is one God and there is no other besides him. And that he should be loved with the whole heart, and with the whole understanding, and with the whole soul, and with the whole strength; and to love one's neighbor as oneself is greater than all holocausts and sacrifices. And Jesus, seeing that he had answered wisely, said to him: You are not far from the kingdom of God. And after that no one dared to ask him any question. And while Jesus was teaching in the temple, he said: How do the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David? For David himself says by the Holy Spirit: The Lord said to my Lord: Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool. David himself calls him Lord; so how is he his son? And the great crowd listened to him gladly. And he said to them in his teaching: Beware of the scribes, who love to walk around in long robes and to be greeted in the marketplace, And to have the first seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at suppers, Who devour the houses of widows while making long prayers for show. These shall receive greater judgment. And Jesus sat opposite the treasury and watched how the people put money into the treasury. And many who were rich put in much. And a poor widow came and put in two mites, which make a farthing. And calling his disciples together, he says to them: Amen I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who have put into the treasury. For they all gave out of their abundance; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything she had, her whole living.