Mar 12 | Anderson | STEP | And he began to speak to them in parables: A man planted a vineyard, and set a hedge around it, and digged a wine-press, and built a tower, and let it out to vine-dressers, and went into another country.

‏ Mark 12

1 And he began to speak to them in parables: A man planted a vineyard, and set a hedge around it, and digged a wine-press, and built a tower, and let it out to vine-dressers, and went into another country. 2 And at the proper time, he sent a servant to the vine-dressers, that he might receive from the vine-dressers of the fruit of the vineyard. 3 And they took him and scourged him, and sent him away without any thing. 4 And again he sent to them another servant; and at him they threw stones, and wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully treated. 5 And again he sent another; and him they killed. And he sent many others, some of whom they scourged, and some they killed. 6 Therefore, having yet one son, his beloved, he sent him also to them last, saying, They will reverence my son. 7 But those vine-dressers said one to another, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours. 8 And they took him, and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard. 9 What, then, will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy those vine-dressers, and give his vineyard to others. 10 Have you not read this scripture: The stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner; 11 this was from the Lord, and it is wondrous in our eyes?

12 And they sought to take him, but feared the multitude; for they knew that he had spoken the parable against them; and they left him, and went away.

13 And they sent to him some of the Pharisees and of the Herodians, that they might entrap him in his words. 14 And they came and said to him: Teacher, we know that you are true, and that you care for no one; for you do not regard the person of men, but teach the way of God in truth. Is it lawful to give tribute to Cæsar, or not? 15 Must we give, or must we not give? But, knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them: Why do you tempt me? Bring me a denarius, that I may see it. 16 They brought it; and he said to them: Whose image and superscription is this? They said to him: Cæsar’s. 17 And Jesus answered and said to them: Give to Cæsar the things that are Cæsar’s, and to God the things that are God’s. And they were astonished at him.

18 And the Sadducees, who say that there is no resurrection, came to him, and put a question to him, saying: 19 Teacher, Moses wrote for us, If any man’s brother die, and leave a wife, and leave no children, his brother shall take his wife, and raise up children for his brother. 20 Now there were seven brothers; and the first took a wife, and dying, left no child; 21 and the second took her, and he died, and left no child; and the third, likewise; 22 and the seven took her, and left no child. Last of all, the woman also died. 23 Therefore, in the resurrection, when they rise, of which of them shall she be the wife? for the seven had her as a wife. 24 And Jesus answered and said to them: Do you not err for this reason, because you know not the scriptures, nor the power of God? 25 For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels in heaven. 26 But concerning the dead, that they do rise, have you not read in the book of Moses, at The Bush, how God spoke to him, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? 27 He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. Therefore, you do greatly err.

28 And one of the scribes came, and heard them reasoning together; and perceiving that he had answered them well, he asked him: Which is the first commandment of all? 29 And Jesus answered him: The first commandment of all is, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. 30 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. 31 And the second, which is like it, is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these. 32 And the scribe said to him: Teacher, in truth you have well said, that there is one God, and there is no other beside him; 33 and to love him 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 himself, is more than all whole burnt-offerings and sacrifices. 34 And Jesus perceiving that he answered with understanding, said to him: You are not far from the kingdom of God. And no one, after that, ventured to ask him a question.

35 And Jesus, as he was teaching in the temple, answered and said: How say the scribes that the Christ is the son of David? 36 For David himself said by the Holy Spirit: The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, till I make thy enemies thy footstool. 37 David himself, then, calls him Lord; and how is he his son? And the great multitude heard him with pleasure.

38 And he said to them in his teaching: Beware of the scribes, who love to walk in robes, and love salutations in the markets, 39 and the first seats in the synagogues, and the first places at suppers; 40 who eat up the houses of widows, and, as a pretext, make long prayers: these shall receive more abundant condemnation.

41 And Jesus, sitting opposite the treasury, observed how the multitude threw money into the treasury. And many rich persons threw in much. 42 And there came one poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing. 43 And he called his disciples to him, and said to them: Verily I say to you, this poor widow has thrown in more than all that have thrown into the treasury. 44 For all have thrown in out of their abundance; but she, out of her poverty, has thrown in all that she had, her whole living.