The Gospels

by Sarah Ruden

  15 Then they came into Hierosoluma, and once he entered the temple precinct, he proceeded to throw out the vendors and shoppers in the precinct, and he turned over the tables of the money-changers, and the backrest-chairs of those who were selling doves. 16 And he wouldn’t allow anyone to carry an object through the precinct. 17 And he made this a lesson, telling them, “Hasn’t it been written,

  “ ‘My house is to be called a house of prayer

  For all the nations of the world’?

  But you’ve made it a cave where bandits lurk.”*120

  18 And the high priests and the scholars heard and started seeking a way to destroy him. They in fact feared him, since the entire crowd was overpowered by his teaching.

  19 And when evening came on, they made their way out beyond the city.

  20 And early in the morning, when they were passing by it, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. 21 And Petros remembered and said to him: “Rabbí, look, the fig tree you cursed has dried up.” 22 And Iēsous responded by saying to them: “Have trust in god. 23 Amēn I tell you: whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and his heart doesn’t waver, but rather he trusts that what he says is about to be done, it will be granted him. 24 Because of this, I say to you all, whatever you pray for and ask for, trust that you’ve gotten it, and it will be granted to you. 25 And when you’re standing at prayer, let go whatever you have against anyone, so that your father in the skies lets you go from the blunders you’ve made.”*121

  27 Then they came into Hierosoluma again, and while he was walking around in the temple precinct, the high priests and the scholars and the elders came up to him 28 and said to him, “By what authority do you do these things—or who gave you this authority to do these things?” 29 But Iēsous said to them, “I’ll question you about one matter, and you need to answer me, and then I’ll tell you by what kind of authority I do these things. 30 Did the baptism that Iōannēs carried out come from heaven or from human beings? Give me your answer.” 31 And they tried to work it out among themselves, in these terms: “If we say ‘From heaven,’ he’ll say ‘[Then] why didn’t you trust him?’ 32 But should we say ‘From human beings’?”—they were afraid of the crowd; they all in fact held that Iōannēs truly was a prophet. 33 So in answer to Iēsous they said, “We don’t know.” Then Iēsous said to them: “I’m not telling you either by what kind of authority I do these things.”

  Chapter 12

  1 And he undertook to speak to them through comparative stories. “A man planted a vineyard, and put a fence around it, and hollowed out a wine press,*122 and built a watchtower, and leased the place to farmers and went abroad. 2 And at the proper time he dispatched his slave to the farmers so that he could get a share of the vineyard’s harvest from the farmers. 3 But they seized him and nearly skinned him alive, and sent him away empty-handed. 4 And again the owner sent a slave to them, another one this time. That one too they beat, practically taking his head off, and treated him shamefully.*123 5 And he sent them another slave, and this one they killed; and he sent many others, and some they more or less skinned alive, and others they killed. 6 The man had no one left but his single beloved son. He sent him to them last of all, saying, ‘They’ll have respect for my son.’ 7 But those farmers said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come on, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ 8 Then they seized him and killed him and threw his body out of the vineyard. 9 [So] what will the owner of the vineyard do? He’ll come and destroy the farmers and give the vineyard to other people.*124 10 Haven’t you read this, that’s written:

  ‘The stone that the builders tested and rejected—

  It turned out to head up the corner:

  11 The lord made it turn out this way—

  And it’s amazing in our eyes’?”*125

  12 And they were trying to get hold of him, but they were afraid of the crowd, since they knew that they themselves were the target of the story he’d just told; so they let him alone and went away.

  13 Then they sent to him some of the Farisaioi and some of Hērōdēs’ people*126 to trap him in an argument. 14 And they came and said to him, “Teacher, we know you’re truthful and not influenced by anybody: you don’t look to people’s outward distinctions, but rather on the basis of truth you teach god’s path. Is it permitted to pay the individual tax to Kaisar or not? Should we pay or shouldn’t we?”*127 15 But perceiving their play-acting, he said to them: “Why are you testing me? Bring me a denarius and let me see it.” 16 And they brought him one. And he said to them, “Whose image and inscription are these? And they told him, “Kaisar’s.” 17 And Iēsous said to them, “Pay Kaisar what belongs to Kaisar—give it right back to him—and pay god what belongs to god.”*128 And they were confounded by him.

  18 And Saddoukaioi came to him—these are people who say that the dead don’t rise again*129—and they questioned him, saying, 19 “Teacher, Mōüsēs wrote down for us that if someone’s brother dies and leaves behind a wife but doesn’t leave a child, his brother has to take the wife and raise up seed for his brother.*130 20 There were seven brothers. Now the first one took a wife, and when he died, he didn’t leave seed. 21 Then the second took her and died without leaving seed; and the same for the third; 22 and none of the seven left behind seed. Last of all, the wife died too. 23 In the rising [when the dead rise], whose wife will she be? All seven in fact had her as a wife.” 24 And Iēsous said to them, “Isn’t this why you’re misled, that you don’t know either the writings or the power of god? 25 The fact is that when people rise from among the dead, they don’t take wives, and they’re not given as wives, but they’re like messengers in the skies. 26 As to the dead rising, haven’t you read in the book of Mōüsēs, in the passage about the bush, how god spoke to him, saying: ‘I am the god of Abraam and [the] god of Isaak and [the] god of Iakōb’? 27 He’s not a god of corpses but of living people! You’ve been badly misled.”*131

  28 Then one of the scholars approached, having heard them arguing; seeing that Iēsous had answered them well, he questioned him: “Which is the chief command among them all?” 29 And Iēsous answered: “The chief one is ‘Listen, Israēl: the lord our god is one lord, 30 and you are to love the lord your god with the whole of your heart and the whole of your life, and the whole of your mind and the whole of your strength.’ 31 The next most important command is this one: ‘You are to love the one next to you the way you love yourself.’*132 There is no command greater than these two.” 32 Then the scholar said to him, “That’s right, teacher. It’s true what you said: there is one, and no other, none except him; 33 and to love him with the whole of the heart and the whole of the understanding and the whole of the strength;*133 and to love the one next to you the way you love yourself—this is more than all the animals burnt to ashes as offerings, and all the other sacrifices.”*134 34 Then, seeing that [he] had answered intelligently, Iēsous said to him, “You’re not far from god’s kingdom.” And no one dared to question him any longer.

  35 And Iēsous said in response, while he was teaching in the temple precinct, “What do the scholars mean by saying that the anointed one is David’s son? 36 David himself says, inspired by the holy life-breath:

  “ ‘The lord said to my lord,

  “Sit to the right of me

  Until I put your enemies

  Under your feet.’ ”

  37 “David himself calls him lord, so how is he his son?”

  And the large crowd heard him with pleasure.*135

  38 And in his teaching, he said, “Watch out for the scholars, who are always ready to walk around in long robes and be greeted respectfully in the marketplaces, 39 and have the seats of highest honor in the synagogues, and the couches of highest honor at banquets. 40 They wolf down the homes of widows and say long prayers as a pretext. They’re going to get a heavier verdict given on them than
they ever gave!”*136

  41 Then when he was sitting in front of the treasury, he watched how the crowd was putting copper coins into the treasury, and many rich people put in a lot. 42 But a destitute widow came and put in two lepta, worth a quadrans.*137 43 And he called his students over and said to them, “Amēn I tell you: this destitute widow has put in more than all the others who put money into the treasury. 44 They all of course put in out of their excess, but she did it out of her shortfall, putting in everything she had, the whole of what she was living on.”

  Chapter 13

  1 Then when he was making his way out of the temple precinct, one of his students said to him: “Teacher, look at how magnificent the stones are, and how magnificent the buildings are!” 2 But Iēsous said to him, “You see these huge buildings? There won’t be a stone left on top of another here: they will all be torn down.”*138

  3 Then as he was sitting on the mountain with the olive trees, opposite the temple, Petros and Iakōbos and Iōannēs and Andreas questioned him privately: 4 “Tell us, when will these things happen, and what the sign will be when all these things are about to be fulfilled?” 5 And Iēsous proceeded to tell them, “Watch out, so that no one leads you astray. 6 Many will come in my name, saying, ‘It’s me,’ and they’ll lead many people astray. 7 When you hear about wars, and hear rumors of wars, don’t be alarmed. It’s necessary that these things happen, but that won’t yet be the end. 8 One nation will rise up against another, and one kingdom against another, there will be earthquakes in various places, there will be famines: these things will be the beginning of the labor pains.*139

  9 “Watch out for yourselves. They’ll hand you over to the governing councils,*140 and in the synagogues you’ll be beaten within an inch of your lives, and you’ll stand before governors and kings because of me, to give testimony to them. 10 But it’s necessary, first of all, for the good news to be proclaimed to all nations. 11 And when they hand you over and bring you in, don’t worry beforehand about what to say: instead, whatever is given to you at that time, say it; it won’t in fact be you speaking, but the holy life-breath. 12 And one brother will hand over another to death, and a father will hand over his child, and children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. 13 And you’ll be hated by everyone because of my name. But whoever holds out to the end will be rescued.*141

  14 “But when you see ‘the annihilating abomination’ set up where it shouldn’t be—the reader has to realize what that means*142—then those in Ioudaia had better run to the hills, 15 and whoever’s on the roof had better not come down or go into his house to get anything, 16 and no one in the field should go back to get his cloak. 17 Pity the women who have children in their wombs, and the women who are nursing, in those days!

  18 “Pray that this doesn’t happen in the winter. 19 Those days will be a shattering such as there hasn’t been since the beginning, when the world’s foundations were founded by god, until this moment, and never will be again. 20 And if the lord didn’t cut short the days, no mortal being would be rescued. But because of the chosen ones, whom he chose, he has cut short the days.

  21 “But at that time, if someone says to you, ‘Look, here’s the anointed one’ or ‘Look, he’s right there,’ don’t believe him. 22 False anointed ones and false prophets will emerge, and they’ll perform ‘signs’ and ‘marvels’ to lead the chosen astray, if that were possible. 23 But you, watch out. I’ve told you all this beforehand.

  24 “But during those days, after that shattering,

  ‘The sun will be shadowed over,

  and the moon won’t give off her luster,

  25 And the stars will be falling from the sky,

  and the powers in the skies will be shaken.’*143

  26 “And then they’ll see the son of mankind coming on clouds, with great power and glory. 27 And then he’ll send out his messengers and gather [his] chosen ones from the sources of the four winds, from the end of the earth to the end of the sky.*144

  28 “But from the fig tree, learn the analogy. As soon as her branch becomes tender and sprouts leaves, you know that summer’s near. 29 It’s the same for you too: when you see that these things are happening, you must know that he’s near, right at the gates.

  30 “Amēn I’m telling you: this generation won’t by any means pass away until all these things have happened. 31 The sky and the earth will pass away, but the things I’m telling you will never pass away.

  32 “But about that day or the hour, no one knows; not even the messengers in the sky know, and not the son, but the father only.

  33 “Watch out, stay awake, as you don’t know when the crisis will come. 34 It’s like a man going abroad, who leaves his home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his own work, and orders the doorkeeper to be on the alert— 35 so, all of you, be on the alert. You don’t know when the master of the house is coming, whether in the evening or in the middle of the night, or when the rooster crows,*145 or at dawn. 36 Make sure that he doesn’t come suddenly and find you sleeping. 37 But what I say to you, I say to everyone: Be on the alert.”*146

  Chapter 14

  1 It was two days before the pascha and the festival of bread made without yeast, and the high priests and the scholars were seeking a way to seize him by stealth and kill him. 2 In fact, they said, “Not at the festival, so that there won’t be an uproar from the people.”*147

  3 And when he was in Bēthania,*148 in the house of Simōn (who had a skin disease*149), he was reclining at the table when there came a woman with an alabaster jar of perfume, which was genuine, extremely costly nard. She broke open the jar and poured its contents over his head. 4 But some of the people present were complaining to each other: “What was the point of wasting the perfume? 5 This perfume could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii,*150 and the money could have been given to the destitute.” And they snarled at her. 6 But Iēsous said, “Leave her alone. Why are you making trouble for her? She’s done me a good service. 7 You’ll have the destitute among you forever, and whenever you want you can do good for them. But you’re not going to have me forever. 8 What she had in her power to do, she did. She acted in advance to perfume my body for burial. 9 Amēn I tell you, wherever in the whole world the good news is spread, what she did will be spoken of as part of it, so that she’ll be remembered.”*151

  10 Then Ioudas Iskariōth, one of the twelve, went to the high priests, meaning to hand him over to them. 11 And when they heard him, they were thrilled, and they promised to pay him in silver. So he was seeking to hand him over at the right moment.

  12 Then on the first day of the festival of bread made without yeast, when people used to sacrifice the pascha,*152 his students said to him, “Where do you want us to go, where we can prepare for you to eat the pascha?” 13 And he sent two of his students, telling them, “Get moving and go to the city, and a person carrying a water jar will come face to face with you. Follow him, 14 and wherever he goes in,*153 say to the head of the house that the teacher asks, ‘Where’s my accommodation, where I can eat the pascha with my students?’ 15 And he’ll show you an upstairs room, a large one, comfortably furnished and ready. Then you need to make ready for us there.” 16 And the students went out, and came to the city, and they found that it was just as he’d told them, and they prepared the pascha.

  17 And when it was evening, he came with the twelve. 18 Then while they were reclining and eating,*154 Iēsous said, “Amēn I tell you that one among you, eating with me, is going to hand me over.” 19 They grew distressed, saying one by one, “It can’t be me, can it?” 20 But he said to them, “It’s one of the twelve, who’s dipping into the bowl along with me.*155 21 This is because the son of mankind is going on his way—just as it’s been written about him*156—but he has it coming, that specimen of mankind through whom the son of mankind is handed over. It would be better for that specimen of mankind if he had
n’t been born.”*157

  22 Then while they were eating, he took a loaf of bread, blessed it, and broke it into pieces and gave it to them, saying, “Take it: this is my body.” 23 Then, taking the cup, he gave thanks for it and gave it to them,*158 and they all drank from it.*159 24 And he said to them, “This is my blood of the dispensation,*160 the blood poured out for the sake of many people.*161 25 Amēn I tell you, I’ll never again drink any of what the vine yields until that day when I drink it new in god’s kingdom.”

  26 Then once they had sung a song of praise, they went out onto the mountain with the olive trees. 27 And Iēsous said to them, “You’ll all fall away, because it’s been written,

  ‘I’ll strike the shepherd down,

  And the sheep will be scattered in all directions.’*162

  28 “But after I’m awakened, I’ll go ahead of you into Galilaia.” 29 But Petros said to him, “Even if all the others fall away, I won’t.” 30 But Iēsous said to him, “Amēn I’m telling you: before tomorrow, during this actual night, before the rooster crows twice, you’ll deny three times that you know me.” 31 But Petros spoke passionately: “Even if I have to die along with you, I’ll never deny you.” And all the others said likewise.

  32 Then they came to the place whose name is Gethsēmani,*163 and he said to his students, “Sit here while I pray.” 33 And he took with him Petros and Iakōbos and Iōannēs. And as horror and anguish started to come over him, 34 he said to them, “The life within me is in terrible pain, to the point of death. Stay with me and keep awake.” 35 And going ahead a little, he fell on the ground in supplication and asked that, if it were possible, the appointed time might pass by him. 36 And he said, “Abba—father—everything is possible for you. Take away this cup from me. But still it has to be what you want, not what I want.” 37 Then he came and found them sleeping, and he said to Petros, “Simōn, are you sleeping? Didn’t you have the strength to stay awake for a single hour? 38 Keep awake and pray, so that you don’t come to be tested. The life-breath is eager, but the mere body is feeble.” 39 And he went away again and prayed, saying the same thing. 40 Then he came back again and found them sleeping, since their eyes were weighed down, and they didn’t know how to answer him. 41 Then he came a third time and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and taking it easy? Enough! The time has come. Look, the son of mankind is being handed over to wrongdoers. 42 Get up, let’s go! Look, the one handing me over is almost here.”