Matthew:21-22

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* Jesus and his disciples came near to Jerusalem . They came to the village of Bethphage by the hill called the Mount of Olives . Then Jesus sent two of his disciples ahead . * He said to them , Go into the village in front of you . As soon as you go in , you will find a donkey for riding , and her young one . They are tied there . Untie them and bring them to me . * If anyone says anything to you , tell him , "The Lord needs them . He will send them back soon ." * This happened , and what the prophet of God said long ago , came true . * He said , Tell the people of Zion : See , your king is coming to you . He is not proud . He rides a donkey . It is a young animal . * The disciples went and did what Jesus told them to do . * They brought the donkey and her young one . They put their coats on them . Then Jesus got on to ride . * Many people spread their coats on the road . Others cut leaves from the palm trees and put them on the road . * People in front of him and people behind him shouted , Praise the Son of David ! God bless him who comes in the name of the Lord ! Praise him in heaven ! * When Jesus came into Jerusalem , all the people there were very excited . They said , Who is this ? * The people who were with Jesus said , This is Jesus from the town of Nazareth in Galilee . He is a prophet . * Jesus went into the temple of God . He drove out all the people who were buying and selling in the temple . He threw down the tables of the money changers . He pushed down the seats of those who sold doves . * He said to them , The holy writings say , "My house shall be called a house where people talk with God ." But you have made it a place for people who steal ! * Blind people came to Jesus in the temple . People who could not walk came to him . And he healed them . * The chief priests and the scribes saw the big works that Jesus did . They saw the children calling out in the temple , God save the Son of David ! They were angry . * They asked Jesus , Do you hear what they are saying ? Jesus answered , Yes . Have you never read this ? "You like the praise of children and babies ." * Then he left them and went out of the city to Bethany . He stayed there for the night . * In the morning he went back to the city . On the way he was hungry . * Along the road he saw a fig tree . He went to the tree . There was no fruit on it , only leaves . He said to the tree , No fruit will ever grow on you again ! Right away the tree died . * The disciples saw it and were surprised . They said , So soon the fig tree has died ! * Jesus said to them , I tell you the truth . Believe God . Do not doubt him . Then you can do what I did to this fig tree . But that is not all . You can even say to this hill , "Go and jump into the sea " and it will be done . * When you ask God for anything , believe that you will have it . Then you will have it . * He came to the temple and went in and taught the people . The chief priests and the leaders of the people came to him . They asked , What right have you to do these things ? Who gave you the right to do them ? * Jesus answered them , I will ask you a question also . If you answer me , I will answer you . I will tell you what right I have to do these things . * Who gave John the right to baptise people ? Did God or did men ? So they talked it over together . They said , If we say , "God gave John the right to do it ," he will say to us , "Then why did you not believe him ?" * But if we say , "Men gave him the right to do it ," we have the people to fear , because all the people say that John was a prophet . * So they answered Jesus , We do not know . Then Jesus said , Neither will I tell you what right I have to do these things . * What do you think about this ? A man had two sons . He went to the first one and said , "Son , go and work today on my farm ." * The son said , "No , I will not go ." But he changed his mind and went . * The man went to the second son and said the same thing . The son answered , "Yes , sir , I will go ." But he did not go . * Which of the two sons did what his father wanted him to do ? They said , The first one . Then Jesus said , I tell you the truth . The tax collectors and women who commit adultery by selling their bodies , are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you . * John came to you to tell you the right way . But you did not believe him . The tax collectors and women who commit adultery believed him . And even when you saw that , you did not change your minds and believe him . * Listen to another story . A man planted a farm of vines for growing fruit called grapes . He put a fence of small trees around it . He dug a place to press the juice from the fruit . He built a high house from which men could watch over the farm . He let some men pay to use it . Then he went to a country far away . * When it was near the time to cut the fruit , he sent his servants to those men . He wanted to have some of the fruit . * The men caught the servants . They beat one of them and killed another one of them . They threw stones at another one . * Then the man sent other servants . There were more than the first time . The men did the same to them . * Last of all he sent his son to them . He said , "They will respect my son ." * When the men saw the son , they said to each other , "This is the one who will have everything when his father dies . Let us kill him and we will have it all ." * They caught him , dragged him off the farm , and killed him . * When the owner of the farm comes , what will he do to those men ? * They answered , He will kill those bad men , and will give the farm to other men who will give him the fruit when it is time . * Jesus said , Have you never read in the holy writings "The stone which the builders would not use is now the chief corner stone . The Lord did this . It looks wonderful to us "? * So I tell you , the kingdom of God will be taken from you . It will be given to the people who do what they should do in it . * If anyone falls on this stone , he will be broken to pieces . But if this stone falls on anyone , it will crush him . * The chief priests and the Pharisees heard the stories Jesus told , and they knew he was talking about them . * They wanted to catch him , but they feared the people . The people thought Jesus was a prophet . * Jesus told them other stories . * He said , The kingdom of heaven is like this . A king made a wedding for his son . * The king sent his servants to call the people who had been asked to the wedding . But they would not come . * He sent other servants to call them . He said , "Tell those who were asked to the wedding that my dinner is cooked . The cows and bullocks have been killed . Everything is ready . Come now to the wedding ." * The people did not listen , but went away . One went to his farm . One went to his business . * The others caught his servants , treated them very badly , and killed them . * The king was very angry . He sent his soldiers to kill the men who had killed his servants . And he burned their city . * Then he said to his servants , "The wedding is ready . But those who were asked to come were not good enough . * Go out on the roads . Call all the people you find to come to the wedding ." * So those servants went out on the roads . They brought all the people they could find , both bad and good people . Then the room was full of people for the wedding . * The king came in to look at the people . He saw one man there who was not wearing the right clothes for a wedding . * The king said to him , "My friend , why did you come here without putting on the right clothes for a wedding ?" The man did not answer . * Then the king said to his servants , "Tie his hands and his feet . Put him in a dark place outside . People there will cry and grind &lt ;FI &gt ;make a noise with &lt ;Fi &gt ; their teeth ." * Many people are asked to come , but only a few are chosen . * Then the Pharisees went away . They planned how to make Jesus say something wrong . * They sent their disciples to him with some of Herods people . They said , Teacher , we know that you are true . We know that you teach the true way of God . You do not fear any person , or care how great he is . * So tell us . What do you think ? Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or is it not ? * Jesus knew they were trying to get him into trouble . So he said to them , Why are you trying to get me to do wrong ? You are not true to yourselves ! * Show me a piece of money used for tax . They brought him a piece of money . * Whose picture and name is this ? he asked . * They said , Caesars .Then he said to them , Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar . And give to God what belongs to God . * When they heard that , they were surprised . They left him and went away . * The same day some of the Sadducees came to Jesus . They say that people do not rise from death . * They came to ask him a question . They said , Teacher , Moses gave us this law : "If a man dies and has no children , then his brother must marry the wife and raise a family for his brother ." * There were seven brothers among us . The first one married . He died and left no children . So his brother married the wife . * The same thing happened to the second brother , and the third one , and all seven of them . * Last of all , the woman died . * Now then , when people rise from death , which of the seven brothers will have her for his wife ? They all married her . * Jesus answered , You are wrong ! You do not know what the holy writings say . And you do not know what power God has . * When people rise from death , men and women do not marry . But they are like angels in heaven . * People do rise from death ! Have you never read what God said to you ? * He said , "I am the God of Abraham , the God of Isaac , and the God of Jacob ." He is not the God of dead people , but of living people . * When the people heard this , they were surprised at his teaching . * The Pharisees heard that the Sadducees could not answer Jesus . So they got together . * One of them was a man who taught Gods law . He asked Jesus a question to try him out . * Teacher , he said , which law is the greatest law of all ? * Jesus said , "Love the Lord your God with all your heart . Love him with all your soul , and love him with all your mind ." * This is the first and greatest law . * The second law of God is like it . "Love your neighbour as you love yourself ." * All that is written in the books of the law and the books of the prophets is about these two laws . * While the Pharisees were still there , Jesus asked them a question . * He said , What do you think about Christ ? Whose son is he ? They said , He is Davids son . * Jesus asked , Then how can David call him "Lord "? He said , by the Spirit , * "The Lord said to my Lord , Sit beside me until I make you master over your enemies ." * David calls Christ his Lord . How can Christ be Davids son ? * No one could answer him a word . And after that day , everyone feared to ask him any more questions . * Then Jesus talked to the people and to his disciples .

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