As they came near Jerusalem and reached Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples on ahead. 2 He told them, “Go into the village right in front of you. You’ll find a donkey tied there at once, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, tell them, ‘The Master needs them,’ and he’ll send them right away.”
4 This happened to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:
5 “Tell the daughter of Zion: Look — your king is coming to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.”
6 The disciples went and did just as Jesus had told them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their cloaks on them, and he sat on them. 8 A huge crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 The crowds walking ahead of him and those following behind kept shouting:
“Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”[1]
10 When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was shaken. “Who is this?” they asked.
11 The crowds answered, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth in Galilee.”
12 Jesus went into the temple and drove out everyone who was buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those selling doves.[2] 13 He said to them, “It is written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer.’ But you are making it a hideout for bandits.”[3]
14 Blind and lame people came to him in the temple, and he healed them. 15 But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the amazing things he did, and the children shouting in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they were furious. 16 They said to him, “Do you hear what these children are saying?”
Jesus answered, “Yes. Have you never read: ‘Out of the mouths of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise’?”[4]
17 Then he left them and went out of the city to Bethany, and he spent the night there.
18 Early in the morning, as he was heading back to the city, he was hungry. 19 He saw a fig tree by the road and went up to it, but found nothing on it except leaves. He said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again.” And the fig tree withered at once.
20 When the disciples saw it, they were amazed. “How did the fig tree wither so fast?” they asked.
21 Jesus answered them, “Amen, I tell you: if you have faith and don’t waver, you’ll not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen. 22 And whatever you ask for in prayer, believing, you will receive.”
23 When he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him while he was teaching. “By what authority are you doing these things?” they demanded. “And who gave you this authority?”
24 Jesus answered them, “I’ll ask you one question too. If you answer me, then I’ll tell you by what authority I do these things. 25 Where did John’s baptism come from — from heaven or from men?”
They talked it over among themselves: “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he’ll say to us, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ 26 But if we say, ‘From men,’ we’re afraid of the crowd, because they all consider John a prophet.” 27 So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.”
He said to them, “Then I’m not telling you by what authority I do these things either.”
28 “What do you think? A man had two sons. He went to the first one and said, ‘Son, go work in the vineyard today.’ 29 The son answered, ‘I won’t go.’ But later he changed his mind and went. 30 Then the father went to the second son and said the same thing. That son answered, ‘Yes, sir,’ but he didn’t go. 31 Which of the two did what the father wanted?”
They said, “The first one.”
Jesus said to them, “Amen, I tell you: the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you. 32 John came to you showing the way of right living, and you didn’t believe him. But the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even after you saw that, you didn’t change your minds later and believe him.”
33 “Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a fence around it, dug a winepress in it, and built a tower. Then he rented it out to tenant farmers and went away on a journey. 34 When harvest time drew near, he sent his slaves to the farmers to collect his fruit. 35 But the farmers seized his slaves — they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. 36 He sent other slaves, more than the first group, and the farmers treated them the same way. 37 Finally he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.
38 “But when the farmers saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come on, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’ 39 So they grabbed him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.
40 “Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those farmers?”
41 They answered, “He’ll destroy those evil men — a miserable death — and rent the vineyard out to other farmers who will give him the fruit at harvest time.”
42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:
‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. The Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?[5]
43 “That’s why I’m telling you: the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. 44 Whoever falls on this stone will be broken to pieces. And whoever it falls on — it will crush him.”
45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they knew he was talking about them. 46 They wanted to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowds, because the people held him as a prophet.
Notes
Note 1. The word began as a plea — Hebrew and Aramaic for roughly “Save, please!” — a cry for rescue directed to God. By the first century it had also become a shout of praise and confident welcome. ↩
Note 2. The Temple tax had to be paid in a specific currency — the Tyrian shekel — so pilgrims arriving with ordinary Roman or local coins needed to exchange them first. The money-changers set up in the Temple courts to handle this, taking a fee. ↩
Note 3. The line is Jeremiah 7:11, where the prophet stood in this same Temple and accused worshippers of treating it as a robbers’ den — going through the motions of worship while living unjustly. In Jeremiah the charge came with a warning that the Temple would be destroyed. ↩
Note 4. The line comes from Psalm 8, where the praise pouring from children’s mouths is praise of God. ↩
Note 5. The quotation is Psalm 118:22-23. In building, the key stone that anchors a wall or arch was chosen with care; in the psalm a stone the builders threw aside becomes the one everything rests on. ↩