Daily Gospel Plan

¹When they approached Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples [ahead],

²saying to them, "Go into the village opposite you, and at once you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to Me.

³If anyone says anything to you, you should say, 'The Lord needs them,' and without delay the owner will send them [with you]."

⁴This happened so that what was spoken by the prophet would be fulfilled, saying:

⁵"Tell the daughter of Zion (the people of Jerusalem), 'Behold, your King is coming to you, Gentle and mounted on a donkey, Even on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.'"

⁶Then the disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them,

⁷and they brought the donkey and the colt, and placed their coats on them; and Jesus sat on the coats.

⁸Most of the crowd spread their coats on the road [as before a king], while others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them on the road.

⁹The crowds that went ahead of Him, and those that followed Him, were shouting [in praise and adoration], " Hosanna to the Son of David (Messiah); Blessed [praised, glorified] is He who comes in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest [heaven]!"

¹⁰When He entered Jerusalem, all the city was trembling [with excitement], saying, "Who is this?"

¹¹And the crowds were saying, "This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth in Galilee."

¹²And Jesus entered the temple [grounds] and drove out [with force] all who were buying and selling [birds and animals for sacrifice] in the temple area, and He turned over the tables of the moneychangers [who made a profit exchanging foreign money for temple coinage] and the chairs of those who were selling doves [for sacrifice].

¹³Jesus said to them, "It is written [in Scripture], 'My house shall be called a house of prayer'; but you are making it a robbers' den."

¹⁴And the blind and the lame came to Him in [the porticoes and courts of] the temple area, and He healed them.

¹⁵But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful and miraculous things that Jesus had done, and heard the boys who were shouting in [the porticoes and courts of] the temple [in praise and adoration], "Hosanna to the Son of David (the Messiah)," they became indignant

¹⁶and they said to Him, "Do You hear what these children are saying?" And Jesus replied to them, "Yes; have you never read [in the Scripture], 'Out of the mouths of infants and nursing babies You have prepared and provided praise for Yourself'?"

¹⁷Then He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, and spent the night there.

¹⁸Now early in the morning, as Jesus was coming back to the city, He was hungry.

¹⁹Seeing a lone fig tree at the roadside, He went to it and found nothing but leaves on it; and He said to it, "Never again will fruit come from you." And at once the fig tree withered.

²⁰When the disciples saw it, they were astonished and asked, "How is it that the fig tree has withered away all at once?"

²¹Jesus replied to them, "I assure you and most solemnly say to you, if you have faith [personal trust and confidence in Me] and do not doubt or allow yourself to be drawn in two directions, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, 'Be taken up and thrown into the sea,' it will happen [if God wills it].

²²And whatever you ask for in prayer, believing, you will receive."

²³When He entered the temple area, the chief priests and elders of the people came to Him as He was teaching and said, "By what [kind of] authority are You doing these things, and who gave You this authority [to exercise this power]?"

²⁴Jesus replied to them, "I will also ask you a question, and if you tell Me the answer, then I will tell you by what authority I do these things.

²⁵The baptism of John—from where did it come? From heaven [that is, ordained by God] or from men?" And they began debating among themselves [considering the implications of their answer], saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' He will say to us, 'Then why did you not believe John?'

²⁶But if we say, 'From men,' we are afraid of the [response of the] crowd; for they all regard John as a prophet."

²⁷So they answered Jesus, "We do not know." And He said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what [kind of] authority I do these things."

²⁸"What do you think? There was a man who had two sons, and he came to the first and said, 'Son, go and work in the vineyard today.'

²⁹And he answered, 'I will not'; but afterward he regretted it and changed his mind and went.

³⁰Then the man came to the second son and said the same thing; and he replied, 'I will, sir'; but he did not go.

³¹Which of the two did the will of the father?" The chief priests and elders replied, "The first one." Jesus said to them, "I assure you and most solemnly say to you that the tax collectors and the prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you.

³²For John came to you [walking] in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him; but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did believe him; and you, seeing this, did not even change your mind afterward and believe him [accepting what he proclaimed to you].

³³"Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard and put a wall around it and dug a wine press in it, and built a tower, and rented it out to tenant farmers and went on a journey [to another country].

³⁴When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his [share of the] fruit.

³⁵But the tenants took his servants and beat one, and killed another, and stoned a third.

³⁶Again he sent other servants, more than the first time; and they treated them the same way.

³⁷Finally he sent his own son to them, saying, 'They will respect my son and have regard for him.'

³⁸But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, 'This [man] is the heir; come on, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.'

³⁹So they took the son and threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.

⁴⁰Now when the owner of the vineyard comes back, what will he do to those tenants?"

⁴¹They said to Him, "He will put those despicable men to a miserable end, and rent out the vineyard to other tenants [of good character] who will pay him the proceeds at the proper seasons."

⁴²Jesus asked them, "Have you never read in the Scriptures: 'The [very]Stone which the builders rejected and threw away, Has become the chief Cornerstone; This is the Lord's doing, And it is marvelous and wonderful in our eyes'?

⁴³Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to [another] people who will produce the fruit of it.

⁴⁴And he who falls on this Stone will be broken to pieces; but he on whom it falls will be crushed."

⁴⁵When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard His parables, they understood that He was talking about them.

⁴⁶And although they were trying to arrest Him, they feared the people, because they regarded Jesus as a prophet.

¹Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying,

²"The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son.

³And he sent his servants to call those who had [previously] been invited to the wedding feast, but they refused to come.

⁴Then he sent out some other servants, saying, 'Tell those who have been invited, "Look, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fattened calves are butchered and everything is ready; come to the wedding feast."'

⁵But they paid no attention [they disregarded the invitation, treating it with contempt] and went away, one to his farm, another to his business.

⁶The rest [of the invited guests] seized his servants and mistreated them [insulting and humiliating them] and killed them.

⁷The king was enraged [when he heard this], and sent his soldiers and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.

⁸Then he said to his servants, 'The wedding [feast] is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy.

⁹So go to the main highways that lead out of the city, and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.'

¹⁰Those servants went out into the streets and gathered together all the people they could find, both bad and good; so the wedding hall was filled with dinner guests [sitting at the banquet table].

¹¹"But when the king came in to see the dinner guests, he saw a man there who was not dressed [appropriately] in wedding clothes,

¹²and he said, 'Friend, how did you come in here without wearing the wedding clothes [that were provided for you]?' And the man was speechless and without excuse.

¹³Then the king said to the attendants, 'Tie him hand and foot, and throw him into the darkness outside; in that place there will be weeping [over sorrow and pain] and grinding of teeth [over distress and anger].'

¹⁴For many are called (invited, summoned), but few are chosen."

¹⁵Then the Pharisees went and conspired together plotting how to trap Him by [distorting] what He said.

¹⁶They sent their disciples to Him, along with the Herodians, saying, "Teacher, we know that You are sincere and that You teach the way of God truthfully, without concerning Yourself about [what] anyone [thinks or says of Your teachings]; for You are impartial and do not seek anyone's favor [and You treat all people alike, regardless of status].

¹⁷Tell us then, what do You think? Is it permissible [according to Jewish law and tradition] to pay a poll-tax to Caesar, or not?"

¹⁸But Jesus, aware of their malice, asked, "Why are you testing Me, you hypocrites?

¹⁹Show me the coin used for the poll-tax." And they brought Him a denarius [a day's wage].

²⁰And Jesus said to them, "Whose likeness and inscription is this?"

²¹They said, "[ The Emperor Tiberius] Caesar's." Then He said to them, "Then pay to Caesar the things that are Caesar's; and to God the things that are God's."

²²When they heard this, they were caught off guard, and they left Him and went away.

²³On that day some Sadducees, who say that there is no resurrection [of the dead], came to Him and asked Him a question,

²⁴saying, "Teacher, Moses said, 'If a man dies, leaving no children, his brother as next of kin shallmarry his widow, and raise children for his brother.'

²⁵Now there were seven brothers among us; the first married and died, and having no children left his wife to his brother.

²⁶The second also [died childless], and the third, down to the seventh.

²⁷Last of all, the woman died.

²⁸So in the resurrection, whose wife of the seven will she be? For they all had married her."

²⁹But Jesus replied to them, "You are all wrong because you know neither the Scriptures [which teach the resurrection] nor the power of God [for He is able to raise the dead].

³⁰For in the resurrection neither do men marry nor are women given in marriage, but they are like angels in heaven [who do not marry nor produce children].

³¹But as to the resurrection of the dead—have you not read [in the Scripture] what God said to you:

³²'I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living."

³³When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at His teaching.

³⁴Now when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced (muzzled) the Sadducees, they gathered together.

³⁵One of them, a lawyer [an expert in Mosaic Law], asked Jesus a question, to test Him:

³⁶"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?"

³⁷And Jesus replied to him, " 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.'

³⁸This is the first and greatest commandment.

³⁹The second is like it, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself [that is, unselfishly seek the best or higher good for others].'

⁴⁰The whole Law and the [writings of the] Prophets depend on these two commandments."

⁴¹Now while the Pharisees were [still] gathered together, Jesus asked them a question:

⁴²"What do you [Pharisees] think of the Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed)? Whose Son is He?" They said to Him, "The son of David."

⁴³Jesus asked them, "How is it then that David by the inspiration of the Spirit, calls Him 'Lord,' saying,

⁴⁴'The Lord (the Father) said to my Lord (the Son, the Messiah), "Sit at My right hand, Until I put Your enemies under Your feet"'?

⁴⁵So then, if David calls Him (the Son, the Messiah) 'Lord,' how is He David's son?"

⁴⁶No one was able to say a word to Him in answer, nor from that day on did anyone dare to question Him again.