Mark 12
1He began speaking to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a pit for the winepress, and built a tower. He leased it to tenant farmers and went away. 2At the season he sent a slave to the tenants to receive from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. 3They seized him, beat him, and sent him away empty-handed. 4Again he sent another slave to them. They struck him on the head and treated him shamefully. 5He sent another, and they killed him. So it was with many others: some they beat, and some they killed. 6He still had one, a beloved son. He sent him to them last, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 7But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ 8They seized him, killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard.
9“What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others. 10Have you not read this scripture:
‘The stone the builders rejected has become the head of the corner. 11This came from the Lord, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?”
12They sought to seize him but feared the crowd, for they knew he had spoken the parable against them. They left him and went away.
13They sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to catch him in something he said. 14They came and said to him, “Teacher, we know you are truthful and defer to no one, for you do not judge people by their faces, but teach God's way truthfully. Is it lawful to pay the tax to Caesar or not? Should we pay or not?” 15Knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them, “Why are you testing me? Bring me a denarius so that I may see it.” 16They brought one. He said to them, “Whose image and inscription is this?” They said to him, “Caesar's.” 17Jesus said to them, “Give back to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.” They marveled at him.
18Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came and asked him, 19“Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if someone's brother dies and leaves a wife but no child, his brother must take the wife and raise up offspring for his brother. 20There were seven brothers. The first took a wife and died leaving no offspring. 21The second took her and died leaving no offspring, and the third likewise. 22The seven left no offspring. Last of all, the woman also died. 23In the resurrection, when they rise, whose wife will she be? For the seven had her as wife.” 24Jesus said to them, “Is this not why you are mistaken: you know neither the scriptures nor God's power? 25For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in the heavens. 26As for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God said to him, ‘I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob’? 27He is not God of the dead but of the living. You are greatly mistaken.”
28One of the scribes came near and heard them debating. Seeing that he had answered them well, he asked him, “Which commandment is first of all?” 29Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ 31The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” 32The scribe said to him, “Well said, teacher. You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him. 33And to love him with all the heart, with all the understanding, and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” 34Jesus, seeing that he had answered thoughtfully, said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And no one dared question him any further.
35While teaching in the temple, Jesus said, “How do the scribes say that the Messiah is David's son? 36David himself said in the Holy Spirit:
‘The Lord said to my lord, “Sit at my right until I put your enemies beneath your feet.”’
37“David himself calls him lord. How, then, is he his son?” And the large crowd listened to him gladly.
38In his teaching he said, “Beware of the scribes who like to walk around in long robes and have greetings in the marketplaces, 39the first seats in the synagogues, and the first places at dinners. 40They devour widows' houses and, for a pretense, make long prayers. These will receive greater condemnation.”
41Sitting opposite the treasury, he watched how the crowd put copper coins into the treasury. Many rich people put in much. 42A poor widow came and put in two lepta, which make a quadrans. 43Calling his disciples, he said to them, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those putting money into the treasury. 44For they all put in out of their abundance, but she, out of her lack, put in everything she had, her whole livelihood.”