Matthew 20 - 21
Laborers in the Vineyard
20“For athe kingdom of heaven is like 1a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his bvineyard. 2“Now when he had agreed with the laborers for a 1denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard. 3“And he went out about the 1third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace; 4and to those he said, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ And so they went. 5“Again he went out about the 1sixth and the ninth hour, and did 2the same thing. 6“And about the 1eleventh hour he went out and found others standing around; and he *said to them, ‘Why have you been standing here idle all day long?’ 7“They *said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’ He *said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’
8“Now when aevening came, the 1owner of the vineyard *said to his 2,bforeman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last group to the first.’ 9“And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each one received a 1denarius. 10“And when those hired first came, they supposed that they would receive more; 1but each of them also received a denarius. 11“Now when they received it, they were grumbling at the landowner, 12saying, ‘These last men have worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the ascorching heat.’ 13“But he answered and said to one of them, ‘aFriend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius? 14‘Take what is yours and go, but I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. 15‘Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with what is my own? Or is your aeye 1envious because I am 2generous?’ 16“So athe last shall be first, and the first last.”
Jesus Again Foretells His Death and Resurrection
17aAnd as Jesus was about to go up to Jerusalem, He took the twelve disciples aside by themselves, and on the way He said to them, 18“Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem; and the Son of Man awill be betrayed to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn Him to death, 19and awill deliver Him over to the Gentiles to mock and flog and crucify Him, and on bthe third day He will be raised up.”
A Request for Status
20aThen the mother of bthe sons of Zebedee came to Him with her sons, cbowing down and making a request of Him. 21And He said to her, “What do you wish?” She *said to Him, “Command that in Your kingdom these two sons of mine amay sit one on Your right and one on Your left.” 22But Jesus answered and said, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able ato drink the cup that I am about to drink?” They *said to Him, “We are able.” 23He *said to them, “aMy cup you shall drink; but to sit on My right and on My left, this is not Mine to give, bbut it is for those for whom it has been cprepared by My Father.”
24And hearing this, the ten became indignant with the two brothers. 25aBut Jesus called them to Himself and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. 26“It is not this way among you, abut whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, 27and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; 28just as athe Son of Man bdid not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His 1life a ransom for many.”
Sight for the Blind
29aAnd as they were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed Him. 30And behold, two blind men sitting by the road, hearing that Jesus *was passing by, cried out, saying, “Lord, ahave mercy on us, bSon of David!” 31But the crowd sternly told them to be quiet, but they cried out all the more, saying, “Lord, aSon of David, have mercy on us!” 32And Jesus stopped and called them, and said, “What do you want Me to do for you?” 33They *said to Him, “Lord, that our eyes be opened.” 34And moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes; and immediately they regained their sight and followed Him.
The Triumphal Entry
21aAnd when they had approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, at bthe Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, 2saying to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied there and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to Me. 3“And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord has need of them,’ and immediately he will send them.” 4aAnd this 1took place in order that what was spoken through the prophet would be fulfilled, saying,
5“aSay to the daughter of Zion,‘Behold your King is coming to you,Lowly, and mounted on a donkey,And on a colt, the foal of a pack animal.’”6And the disciples went and did just as Jesus had instructed them, 7and brought the donkey and the colt, and laid their garments on them; and He sat on 1the garments. 8And most of the crowd aspread their garments in the road, and others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them in the road. 9And the crowds going ahead of Him, and those who followed, were crying out, saying, “Hosanna to the aSon of David;bBlessed is He who comes in the name of the 1Lord;Hosanna cin the highest!”
10And when He had entered Jerusalem, all the city was stirred, saying, “Who is this?” 11And the crowds were saying, “This is athe prophet Jesus, from bNazareth in Galilee.”
Cleansing the Temple
12aAnd Jesus entered the temple and drove out all those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the bmoney changers and the seats of those who were selling cdoves. 13And He *said to them, “It is written, ‘aMy house shall be called a house of prayer’; but you are making it a brobbers’ 1den.”
14And the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and aHe healed them. 15But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the marvelous things which He had done, and the children who were shouting in the temple, saying, “Hosanna to the aSon of David,” they became indignant 16and said to Him, “Do You hear what these children are saying?” And Jesus *said to them, “Yes; have you never read, ‘aOut of the mouth of infants and nursing babies You have prepared praise for Yourself’?” 17And He left them and went out of the city to aBethany, and spent the night there.
The Barren Fig Tree
18aNow in the morning, when He was returning to the city, He became hungry. 19And seeing a lone afig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it except leaves only; and He *said to it, “No longer shall there ever be any fruit from you.” And at once the fig tree withered.
20And seeing this, the disciples marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither all at once?” 21And Jesus answered and said to them, “Truly I say to you, aif you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ it will happen. 22“And aall things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”
The Authority of Jesus Challenged
23aAnd when He entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to Him bwhile He was teaching, and said, “By what authority are You doing these things, and who gave You this authority?” 24And Jesus answered and said to them, “I will also ask you one 1thing, which if you tell Me, I will also tell you by what authority I do these things. 25“The baptism of John was from what source, from heaven or from men?” And they began reasoning among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say to us, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’ 26“But if we say, ‘From men,’ we fear the crowd; for they all regard John as aa prophet.” 27And they answered Jesus and said, “We do not know.” He also said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.
Parable of Two Sons
28“But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go work today in the avineyard.’ 29“And he answered and said, ‘I will not’; but afterward he regretted it and went. 30“And the man came to the second and said the same thing; and he answered and said, ‘I will, sir’; but he did not go. 31“Which of the two did the will of his father?” They *said, “The first.” Jesus *said to them, “Truly I say to you that athe tax collectors and prostitutes 1will get into the kingdom of God before you. 32“For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him; but athe tax collectors and prostitutes did believe him; and you, seeing this, did not even regret afterward so as to believe him.
Parable of the Vine-Growers
33“Listen to another parable. aThere was a 1landowner who bplanted a cvineyard and put a 2wall around it and dug a wine press in it, and built a tower, and rented it out to 3vine-growers and dwent on a journey. 34“Now when the 1harvest time approached, he asent his slaves to the vine-growers to receive his fruit. 35“And the vine-growers took his slaves and beat one, and killed another, and stoned a third. 36“Again he asent another group of slaves larger than the first; and they did the same thing to them. 37“But afterward he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 38“But when the vine-growers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’ 39“And they took him, and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. 40“Therefore when the 1owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine-growers?” 41They *said to Him, “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end, and awill rent out the vineyard to other vine-growers who will pay him the proceeds at the proper seasons.”
42Jesus *said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures, ‘aThe stone which the builders rejected,This has become the chief corner stone;This came about from the 1Lord,And it is marvelous in our eyes’?
43“Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation, producing the fruit of it. 44“And ahe who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust.”