The New Testament Page 4

  They were on the road going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was leading the way, and they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. And taking the twelve again, he began to tell them what was going to happen to him: Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the son of man will be given over to the high priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death, and give him over to the Gentiles, and they will mock him and spit upon him and flog him, and kill him, and after three days he will rise.

  Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to him and said: Master, we wish you to do for us whatever we ask you to. He said to them: What do you wish me to do for you? They said to him: Grant us that in your glory we may sit one on your right and one on your left. Jesus said to them: You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup which I drink, or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized? They said to him: We can. Jesus said to them: You shall drink the cup which I drink, and be baptized with the baptism with which I ^ baptized; but to sit on my right or on my left, that is not mine to give, but it is theirs for whom it has been made ready. When the other ten heard about it, they began to be indignant over James and John. And Jesus caUed them to him and said: You know that those who are supposed to rule over the Gentiles act as lords over them and their great men exercise power over them. It is not thus with you; but he who wishes to be great ^ong you shall be your servant, and he who wishes to be first among you shall be the slave of all; for the son of man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his own life for the re­demption of many.

  And they came to Jericho. And as he was on his way out of Jericho with his disciples and a considerable multitude, Bartirnaeus the son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sit­ting by the road. And hearing that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry aloud and say: Jesus, son of David, have pity on me. And many people told him an­grily to be quiet, but he cried out all the more: Son of David, have pity on me. And Jesus stopped and said: Call him. And they called the blind man, saying to ^m: Take heart, rise up, he is calling you. He threw off his mantle and sprang to his feet and went to Jesus. Jesus spoke forth and said: What do you wish me to do for you? The blind man said to him: Master, let me see again. And Jesus said to him: Go; your faith has healed you. And at once he could see again, and he followed him on his way.

  <1 When they came near Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disci­ples ahead and told them: Go into the village that lies before you, and presently as you go in you will find a colt, tethered, on which no man has ever ridden. Untie him and bring ^im. And if anyone says to you: Why are you doing this? say: His master needs him; and he will return him to this place at once. And they went and found a colt tethered by the door, outside in the street, and they un­tied ^im. And some of those who were standing there said to them: What are you doing, untying the colt? They an­swered as Jesus had told them; and they let them be. And they brought the colt to Jesus, and they piled their cloth­ing upon the colt, and he sat on ^m. And many strewed their clothing in the road, and others strewed branches they had cut in the countryside. And those who went before him and who came after him cried aloud: Hosanna. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that is coming. Hosanna in the highest! And he entered into Jerusalem, into the temple; and after looking about at everything, since the time was now late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.

  On the next day as they went out from Bethany, he was hungry; and seeing in the distance a fig tree which had leaves, he went to see if he could find anything on it; and when he reached it he found nothing but the leaves, for it was not the season for figs. Then he spoke forth and said to it: May no one eat fruit from you any more, forever. And his disciples heard him.

  They came to Jerusalem. And he went into the temple and began to drive out those who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money chang­ers and the stalls of the sellers of doves, and he would not let anyone carry any vessel through the temple, and he taught them and said: Is it not written that: My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations? But you have made it into a den of robbers. And the high priests and the scribes heard him, and looked for a way to destroy him; for they feared him, for all the populace was smitten with his teaching.

  When it was late, they went forth from the city.

  As they passed by in the morning they saw the fig tree dried up, from the roots; and Peter remembered and said to him: Master, see, the fig tree which you cursed is dried up. Jesus answered and said to them: Have faith in God. Truly I tell you, if one says to this mountain: Rise up and throw yourself into the sea, and does not deliberate in his heart but believes that what he talks about is happening, it shall be his. Therefore I tell you, all that you pray for and ask for, believe that you get it, and it shall be yours. And when you stand praying, forget anything you have against anyone, so that your father in heaven may forgive your transgressions.

  They returned to Jerusalem. And as he walked about in the temple, the high priests and the scribes and the elders came to him and said: By what authority do you do this? Or who gave you this authority, to do these things? Jesus said to them: I will ask you one thing, and you answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do this. Was the baptism of John from heaven or from men? Answer me. They discussed this among themselves, saying: If we say: From heaven, he will say: Then why did you not believe him? But if we say: From men- They were afraid of the people, for these all held John to be truly a prophet. And they answered Jesus and said: We do not know. And Jesus said to them: Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.

  41 Then he began to talk to them in parables: A man planted a vineyard and ran a fence about it and dug a pit for the wine press and built a tower, and let it out to f^roers and left the country. And when the time came, he sent a slave to the farmers to receive from the farmers some of the fruits of the vineyard. And they took him and lashed him and sent him away empty-handed. And again he sent them another slave; and they broke the head of that one and outraged him. And he sent another; and that one they killed; and many others, lashing some, killing some. He had one more, a beloved son; he was the last he sent them, saying: They will respect my son. But they, the farmers, said among themselves: This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and the inheritance will be ours. And they took him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard. What will the lord of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the farmers, and give the vineyard to others. Have you not read this scripture: The stone that the builders rejected has come to be at the head of the comer. It was made by the Lord, and is wonderful in our sight? They were looking for a way to seize him; also they were afraid of the people. They knew that the parable he told was directed against them. They let him be and went away.

  Then they sent him some of the Pharisees and Hero- dians to try to catch him up in what he said. And they came, and said to him: Master, we know that you are truthful and care for no man, for you are no respecter of persons but teach the way of God truthfully. Is it lawful to pay the assessment to Caesar or not? Shall we give or not give? He knew their hypocrisy and said to them: Why do you tempt me? Bring me a denarius so I may look at it. They brought him one. He said to them: Whose is the image and whose name is inscribed? They said: Caesar's. And Jesus said: Give Caesar what is Caesar's and God what is God's. And they wondered at him.

  Sadducees also came to him, who say that there is no resurrection, and they questioned him, saying: Master, Moses wrote for us: If a man's brother dies and leaves a wife, but has no children, the brother should take the wife and raise up issue for his brother. There were seven brothers. The first took a wife, and died and left no issue. And the second took her, and died without leaving issue, and the third likewise. All seven left no issue. Last of all the woman also died. In the resurrection, whose wife
shall she be, of these men? For all seven had her as wife. Jesus said to them: Is this not why you go astray, through knowing neither the scriptures nor the power of God? For when they rise from the dead they do not marry nor are they married but are as the angels in heaven. And as for the dead, that they waken, have you not read in the book of Moses, at the bush, how God spoke to him saying: I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob? God is not God of the dead but of the living. You are far astray.

  Then one of the scribes, who had listened to their dis­cussion and knew that he had answered them well, came to him and asked him: Which is the first commandment of all? Jesus answered: The first is: Hear, Israel, the Lord our God the Lord is one; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your spirit and all your mind and all your strength. This is the second: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other com­mandment greater than these. The scribe said to him: Well said, master; what you said is true, that he is one and there is no other but he; and to love him with all the heart and all the understanding and all strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is worth more than all the burnt offerings and the sacrifices. And Jesus, perceiving that he had answered intelligently, said: You are not far from the Kingdom of God. And no one dared question him after that.

  And Jesus spoke forth and said, as he taught in the tem­ple: How is it that the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David? David himself said, under the Holy Spirit: The Lord said to my lord: Sit on my right so that I may put your enemies beneath your feet. David himself calls him lord. Then how can he be his son?

  And the masses heard him with pleasure. And in his teaching he said: Thrn away from the scribes who desire to walk about in their robes, who desire the salutations in the public places and the first seats in the synagogues and the foremost couches at the dinners, who eat up the houses of the widows, and pray long as an excuse. The greater the condemnation these will receive.

  Then he sat down across from the treasury and watched how the multitude put coins into the treasury. And many rich people put in many coins. And there came a poor widow who put in two half pennies, that is, one penny. Calling his disciples to him, he said to them: Truly I tell you, this widow, who is poor, has put in more than all who have put money into the treasury. For they all put in out of their surplus, but out of her deficit she gave all that she had, her whole livelihood.

  t As he was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him: See, master, what stones, what buildings! And Jesus said to him: Are you looking at the great buildings?

  Nothing here will escape destruction and no stone will be left on another. Then he sat down on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, and Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately: Tell us when this shall be, and what will be the sign when all these things are to be accomplished. And Jesus began to tell them: See to it that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying: I am he. And they will lead many astray. And when you hear of wars and the rumors of wars, do not be frightened. This must be, but the end is not yet. For na­tion shall rise up against nation and kingdom against kingdom, there will be earthquakes in the lands, there will be famines. This is the beginning of the agony. And look to yourselves. They will tum you over to the coun­cils and you will be lashed in the synagogues, and you will be set before leaders and kings because of me, to testify to them. And first the gospel must be preached to all the peoples. And when they turn you over and bring you to trial, do not take any forethought for what you will say, but whatever is given to you in that hour, say it, for it will not be you who speak but the Holy Spirit. And brother will betray brother to death, and the father his child, and children will rise up against their parents and work their death; and you will be hated by all because of my n^e. But he who endures to the end will be saved. But when you see the abomination of desolation standing where it should not-and let him who reads this take note of it-then let those who are in Judaea flee to the mountains, and let him who is on his housetop not come down or go inside to take up anything from his house, and let him who is in the field not turn back to pick up his coat. Woe to the women who are with child and the women who are nursing in those days. Pray that it will not come in the wintertime; for those days will be an affliction such as there has not been from the beginning of creation, which God created, until now, and may not be again. And if the Lord had not cut short the days, no flesh would be saved; but for the sake of the chosen, whom he chose, he did cut short the days. And then, if someone says to you: See, here is the Christ; see, he is there, do not believe him. For false Christs and false prophets will rise up, and they will present signs and portents to mislead the chosen, if that may be done. Be watchful; I have foretold all to you. But in those days after that affliction, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give her light, and the stars will be falling out of the sky, and the powers in the skies will be shaken. And then they will see the son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory; and then he will send out his angels and gather his chosen together from the four winds, from the end of the earth to the end of the sky. From the fig tree learn its parable. When its branch is tender and it puts forth leaves, you know that the summer is near; so also you, when you see these things happening, know that he is near, at your doors. Truly I tell you that this generation will not pass by before all these things are done. The sky and the earth will pass away but my words will not pass away. But concerning that day and the hour none knows, not the angels in heaven or the son, only the father. Be watchful and wakeful; you do not know when the time will come; as when a man has gone on a journey and left his house and given his slaves charge over it, to each his task, and told the doorkeeper he must be watchful. Be watchful then, you do not know when the lord of the house is coming, in the evening or at midnight or at cock-crow or in the morning; lest he come suddenly and find you sleep­ing. What I say to you I say to all: be watchful.

  <1 After two days, it would be the Passover and the feast of Unleavened Bread. And the high priests and the scribes were looking for a way to capture him by treachery and kill him; for they said: Not during the festival, for so there will be rioting among the people.

  And when he was in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, and at dinner, a woman came with an alabaster vessel full of ointment of nard, pure and precious; and she broke open the jar and poured the ointment over his head. But there were some who grumbled among themselves: Why was there this waste of ointment? The ointment could have been sold for upward of three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor. And they scolded her. But Jesus said: Let her be. Why are you hard on her? She has done a good thing for me. For always you have the poor with you, and you can do them good whenever you will, but you do not always have me. She did what she could, she took the opportunity to anoint my body in advance for my burial. Truly I tell you, wherever the gos­pel is preached through all the world, what she did will also be spoken of, in memory of her.

  And Judas Iscariot, he who was one of the twelve, went off to the high priests, so as to betray him to them. And they were pleased when they heard him and promised to give him money. And he looked for an easy opportunity to betray him.

  Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they used to sacrifice the paschal l^b, his disciples said to him: Where do you wish us to go and make preparations for you to eat the feast of the Passover? He sent forth two of his disciples, and told them: Go into the city, and a man carrying a pot of water will meet you. Follow him, and wherever he enters, say to the master of the house: The master says: Where is my guest chamber where I can eat the Passover dinner with my disciples? And he will show you a large upper room, furnished and ready. There prepare for us. And the disciples went forth, and went into the city, and found all as he had told them, and made ready the Passover. When it was evening, he arrived with the twelve. And as they were at table and eating, Jesus said: Truly I tell you that one of you will betray me, the one who is
eating with me. They began to be bitterly hurt, and to say, one by one: Surely, not I? He said to them: One of the twelve, the one who dips into the dish with me; because the son of man goes his way as it has been written concerning him, but woe to that man through whom the son of man is betrayed. It were well for that man if he had never been born. And as they ate, he took a loaf of bread and blessed it and broke it and gave it to them and said: Take it; this is my body. And he took a cup and gave thanks and gave it to them, and they all drank from it. And he said to them: This is my blood, of the covenant, which is shed for the sake of many. Truly I tell you that I will not again drink of the produce of the vine, until I drink it, new wine, in the Kingdom of God.