He agreed to pay them the regular wage, a silver coin a day, and sent them to work in his vineyard.

so he told them, 'You also go and work in the vineyard, and I will pay you a fair wage.'

It was nearly five o'clock when he went to the marketplace and saw some other men still standing there. 'Why are you wasting the whole day here doing nothing?' he asked them.

"When evening came, the owner told his foreman, 'Call the workers and pay them their wages, starting with those who were hired last and ending with those who were hired first.'

So when the men who were the first to be hired came to be paid, they thought they would get more; but they too were given a silver coin each.

'These men who were hired last worked only one hour,' they said, 'while we put up with a whole day's work in the hot sun---yet you paid them the same as you paid us!'

Now take your pay and go home. I want to give this man who was hired last as much as I gave you.

And Jesus concluded, "So those who are last will be first, and those who are first will be last."

"Listen," he told them, "we are going up to Jerusalem, where the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the teachers of the Law. They will condemn him to death

Then the wife of Zebedee came to Jesus with her two sons, bowed before him, and asked him for a favor.

"You don't know what you are asking for," Jesus answered the sons. "Can you drink the cup of suffering that I am about to drink?" "We can," they answered.

When the other ten disciples heard about this, they became angry with the two brothers.

This, however, is not the way it shall be among you. If one of you wants to be great, you must be the servant of the rest;

like the Son of Man, who did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life to redeem many people."

Two blind men who were sitting by the road heard that Jesus was passing by, so they began to shout, "Son of David! Have mercy on us, sir!"

Jesus stopped and called them. "What do you want me to do for you?" he asked them.

Jesus had pity on them and touched their eyes; at once they were able to see, and they followed him.

with these instructions: "Go to the village there ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied up with her colt beside her. Untie them and bring them to me.

This happened in order to make come true what the prophet had said:

So the disciples went and did what Jesus had told them to do:

A large crowd of people spread their cloaks on the road while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.

When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was thrown into an uproar. "Who is he?" the people asked.

Jesus went into the Temple and drove out all those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the moneychangers and the stools of those who sold pigeons,

The blind and the crippled came to him in the Temple, and he healed them.

So they asked Jesus, "Do you hear what they are saying?" "Indeed I do," answered Jesus. "Haven't you ever read this scripture? 'You have trained children and babies to offer perfect praise.' "

On his way back to the city early next morning, Jesus was hungry.

The disciples saw this and were astounded. "How did the fig tree dry up so quickly?" they asked.

If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer."

Jesus answered them, "I will ask you just one question, and if you give me an answer, I will tell you what right I have to do these things.

But if we say, 'From human beings,' we are afraid of what the people might do, because they are all convinced that John was a prophet."

"Now, what do you think? There was once a man who had two sons. He went to the older one and said, 'Son, go and work in the vineyard today.'

Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. 'Yes, sir,' he answered, but he did not go.

For John the Baptist came to you showing you the right path to take, and you would not believe him; but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. Even when you saw this, you did not later change your minds and believe him.

When the time came to gather the grapes, he sent his slaves to the tenants to receive his share of the harvest.

Again the man sent other slaves, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way.

But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, 'This is the owner's son. Come on, let's kill him, and we will get his property!'

"Now, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?" Jesus asked.

Jesus said to them, "Haven't you ever read what the Scriptures say? 'The stone which the builders rejected as worthless turned out to be the most important of all. This was done by the Lord; what a wonderful sight it is!'

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so they tried to arrest him. But they were afraid of the crowds, who considered Jesus to be a prophet.

"The Kingdom of heaven is like this. Once there was a king who prepared a wedding feast for his son.

So he sent other servants with this message for the guests: 'My feast is ready now; my steers and prize calves have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast!'

while others grabbed the servants, beat them, and killed them.

Then he called his servants and said to them, 'My wedding feast is ready, but the people I invited did not deserve it.

So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, good and bad alike; and the wedding hall was filled with people.

'Friend, how did you get in here without wedding clothes?' the king asked him. But the man said nothing.

And Jesus concluded, "Many are invited, but few are chosen."

Then they sent to him some of their disciples and some members of Herod's party. "Teacher," they said, "we know that you tell the truth. You teach the truth about God's will for people, without worrying about what others think, because you pay no attention to anyone's status.

Jesus, however, was aware of their evil plan, and so he said, "You hypocrites! Why are you trying to trap me?

and he asked them, "Whose face and name are these?"

When they heard this, they were amazed; and they left him and went away.

"Teacher," they said, "Moses said that if a man who has no children dies, his brother must marry the widow so that they can have children who will be considered the dead man's children.

The same thing happened to the second brother, to the third, and finally to all seven.

Now, on the day when the dead rise to life, whose wife will she be? All of them had married her."

For when the dead rise to life, they will be like the angels in heaven and will not marry.

'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.' He is the God of the living, not of the dead."

When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they came together,

"Teacher," he asked, "which is the greatest commandment in the Law?"

This is the greatest and the most important commandment.

The whole Law of Moses and the teachings of the prophets depend on these two commandments."

"What do you think about the Messiah? Whose descendant is he?" "He is David's descendant," they answered.

'The Lord said to my Lord: Sit here at my right side until I put your enemies under your feet.'

No one was able to give Jesus any answer, and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions.