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 alclass="underline" be watchful.