The King Enters Jerusalem

(Mark 11:1-11; Luke 19:28-38; John 12:12-19)

1When they came near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples on ahead and 2told them, “Go into the village ahead of you. At once you will find a donkey tied up and a colt with it. Untie them, and bring them to me. 3If anyone says anything to you, tell him, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and that person will send them at once.”

4Now this happened to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet when he said,

5“Tell the daughtera of Zion,

‘Look, your king is coming to you!b

He is humble and mounted on a donkey,

even on a colt of a donkey.’”c

6So the disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. 7They brought the donkey and the colt and put their coats on them, and he sat upon them. 8Many people in the crowd spread their own coats on the road, while others began cutting down branches from the trees and spreading them on the road. 9Both the crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed him kept shouting,

“Hosannad to the Son of David!

How blessed is the one who comes

in the name of the Lord!e

Hosanna in the highest heaven!”f

10When he came into Jerusalem, the whole city was trembling with excitement. The peopleg were asking, “Who is this?”

11The crowds kept saying, “This is the prophet Jesus, the man from Nazareth in Galilee.”

Confrontation in the Temple over Money

(Mark 11:15-19; Luke 19:45-48; John 2:13-22)

12Then Jesus went into the Temple,h threw out everyone who was selling and buying in the Temple, and overturned the moneychangers’ tables and the chairs of those who sold doves. 13He told them, “It is written, ‘My house is to be called a house of prayer,’i but you are turning it into a hideoutj for bandits!”

14Blind and lame people came to him in the Temple, and he healed them. 15But when the high priests and the scribes saw the amazing things that he had done and the children shouting in the Temple, “Hosannak to the Son of David,” they became furious 16and asked him, “Do you hear what these people are saying?”

Jesus told them, “Yes! Haven’t you ever read, ‘From the mouths of infants and nursing babies you have created praise’?”l 17Then he left them and went out of the city to Bethany and spent the night there.

Jesus Curses a Fig Tree

(Mark 11:12-14, 20-24)

18In the morning, as Jesusm was returning to the city, he became hungry. 19Seeing a fig tree by the roadside, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. He told it, “May fruit never come from you again!” And immediately the fig tree dried up.

20When the disciples saw this, they were amazed. “How did the fig tree dry up so quickly?” they asked.

21Jesus answered them, “I tell all of youn with certainty, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only will you be able to do what has been done to the fig tree, but you will also say to this mountain, ‘Be removed and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. 22You will receive whatever you ask for in prayer, if you believe.”

Jesus’ Authority is Challenged

(Mark 11:27-33; Luke 20:1-8)

23Then Jesuso went into the Temple. While he was teaching, the high priests and the elders of the people came to him and asked, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?”

24Jesus answered them, “I, too, will ask you one question.p If you answer it for me, I will also tell you by what authority I am doing these things. 25Where did John’s authority to baptizeq come from? From heaven or from humans?”

They began discussing this among themselves: “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask us, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ 26But if we say, ‘From humans,’ we are afraid of the crowd, because everyone regards John as a prophet.” 27So they told Jesus, “We don’t know.”

He in turn told them, “Then I won’t tell you by what authority I am doing these things.”

The Parable about Two Sons

28“But what do you think? A man had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ 29His sonr replied, ‘I don’t want to,’ but later he changed his mind and went. 30Then the fathers went to the other sont and told him the same thing. He replied, ‘I will,u sir,’ but he didn’t go. 31Which of the two did the father’s will?”

They answered, “The first one.”

Jesus told them, “I tell all of youv with certainty, tax collectors and prostitutes will get into God’s kingdom ahead of you! 32John came to you living a righteous life,w and you didn’t believe him, but the tax collectors and prostitutes did. But even when you saw that, you didn’t change your mindsx at last and believe him.”

The Parable about the Tenant Farmers

(Mark 12:1-12; Luke 20:9-19)

33“Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a wall around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenant farmers and went abroad. 34When harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenant farmers to collect his produce. 35But the farmers took his servants and beat one, killed another, and attacked another with stones. 36Again, he sent other servants to them, a greater number than the first, but the tenant farmersy treated them the same way. 37Finally, he sent his son to them, thinking, ‘They will respect my son.’ 38But when the tenant farmers saw his son, they told one another, ‘This is the heir. Come on, let’s kill him and get his inheritance!’ 39So they grabbed him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. 40Now when the owner of the vineyard returns, what will he do to those farmers?”

41They told him, “He will put those horrible men to a horrible death. Then he will lease the vineyard to other farmers who will give him his produce at harvest time.”

42Jesus asked them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures,

‘The stone that the builders rejected

has become the cornerstone.z

This was the Lord’saa doing,

and it is amazing in our eyes.’?bb

43That is why I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce fruit for it. 44The person who falls over this stone will be broken to pieces, but it will crush anyone on whom it falls.”cc

45When the high priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they knew that he was talking about them. 46Although they wanted to arrest him, they were afraid of the crowds, who considered Jesusdd to be a prophet.