The Gospels

by Sarah Ruden

  17 Then Iēsous, as he was going up to Hierosoluma, took aside the twelve [students] on their own on the road, and said to them, 18 “Look, we’re going up to Hierosoluma, and the son of mankind will be handed over to the high priests and scholars, and they’ll condemn him to death. 19 And they’ll hand him over to the other nations to be taunted and flogged and hung on the stakes, but on the third day after this, he’ll awaken.”*188

  20 Then the mother of Zebedaios’ sons*189 approached him with her sons, and prostrated herself to ask him for something. 21 And he said to her, “What do you want?” She told him, “Say that these two sons of mine can sit on your right side and on your side ‘with the blessed name’ in your kingdom.” 22 But in response, Iēsous said, “You two don’t know what you’re asking for. Can you drink from the drinking cup I’m about to drink from?” They told him, “We can.” 23 He said to them, “You’ll drink from my drinking cup, but as for sitting on my right side and on my side ‘with the blessed name,’ [this] isn’t mine to grant: no, those places belong to those for whom they’ve been prepared by my father.”*190

  24 When they heard this, the other ten were angry at the two brothers. 25 But Iēsous called them over and said to them: “You know that the leaders of the other nations lord it over them, and that their great men impose top-down authority on them.*191 26 But it isn’t to be that way among you. Instead, whoever among you wants to be great is to be the attendant of the rest of you, 27 and whoever wants to be first among you is to be the slave of the rest of you. 28 In the same way, the son of mankind didn’t come to have attendants but to be an attendant, and to give his life as the price of setting many other people free.”*192

  29 Then as they were making their way out of Ierichō, a large crowd followed them. 30 But look, two blind men were sitting beside the road, and once they heard that Iēsous was passing by, they yelled the words, “Have pity on us, [lord], son of David!” 31 The crowd scolded them and warned them to be quiet, but they only yelled the words much louder: “Have pity on us, lord, son of David!” 32 And Iēsous stopped, called them over, and said, “What do you want me to do for you?” 33 And they said to him, “Lord, we want our eyes opened.” 34 And Iēsous was wrenched by pity and touched their eyes, and right away they could see again and followed him.

  Chapter 21

  1 And when they neared Hierosoluma and came to Bēthfagē*193 at the mountain with the olive trees, then Iēsous sent off two students, 2 saying to them, “Make your way to the village ahead of you, and right away you’ll find a donkey tied up, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. 3 And if someone says anything to you, say, ‘Their master needs them.’*194 And he will send them right away.” 4 This was done to fulfill what was stated by the prophet when he said,

  5 “Tell the daughter Siōn:

  ‘Look, your king is coming to you,

  Humble and mounted on a donkey,

  And on a colt, the son of a yoked beast.’ ”*195

  6 The students went on their way and did as Iēsous ordered them, 7 and brought the donkey and the colt and put their cloaks on them, and he mounted on top of the cloaks. 8 And a huge crowd spread their own cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 And the crowds that went ahead of him and behind him were chanting in piercing voices,

  “Hōsanna for the son of David!

  Blessed is the one who comes in the lord’s name!

  Hōsanna, in the highest places!”*196

  10 And when he came into Hierosoluma, the whole city was shaken, and said, “Who is this?” 11 But the masses of the people said, “This is the prophet Iēsous from Nazareth in Galilaia.”*197

  12 Then Iēsous entered the temple precinct and proceeded to throw out all the vendors and shoppers who were in the precinct, and he turned over the tables of the money-changers, and the backrest-chairs of those who were selling doves. 13 And he said to them, “It’s been written,

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

  But you make it a cave where bandits lurk.”*198

  14 Then blind and crippled people came to him in the temple precinct, and he cured them. 15 And when the high priests and the scholars saw the amazing things he did, and the children shouting in the precinct and saying, “Hōsanna to the son of David!”*199 they were angry. 16 And they said to him, “Do you hear what these people are saying?” But Iēsous said to them, “Yes. Did you never read,

  “ ‘Out of the mouths of babies, of nursing infants, you’ve supplied yourself with praise’?”*200

  17 Then he left them and went out beyond the city to Bēthania and spent the night there.

  18 Then at dawn, as he was returning to the city, he found he was hungry. 19 And seeing a single fig tree by the road, he went up to her, but he found nothing on her at all but leaves, and he said to her, “May there never be fruit from you again for all of time.” And right then and there, the fig tree dried up.*201

  20 And when the students saw, they were amazed, and they said, “How did the fig tree dry up then and there?” 21 And Iēsous responded by saying to them: “Amēn I tell you, if you have trust and your thinking isn’t divided, not only will you do what I’ve done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ it will be done. 22 And everything that you ask for in prayer, you’ll get if you have trust.”

  23 Then when he’d entered the temple precinct and was teaching, the high priests and the elders of the people came to him, saying, “By what authority do you do these things—or who gave you this authority?” 24 But Iēsous said to them in answer, “I’m going to question you about one matter, and if you reply, then I’ll do my part and tell you by what authority I do these things. 25 What was the source of the baptism John carried out? Was it heaven or human beings?” And they tried to work it out among themselves, in these terms: “If we say ‘Heaven,’ he’ll say to us, ‘Then why didn’t you trust him?’ 26 But if we say ‘Human beings,’ we have the crowd to be afraid of; they all in fact regard Iōannēs as a prophet.” 27 So the answer they gave Iēsous was “We don’t know.” He said to them in turn: “I’m not telling you either by what authority I do these things.

  28 “But what do you think? A man had two children. And he went to the first and said, ‘Child, go along today and work in the vineyard.’ 29 But he answered by saying, ‘I don’t want to’; but later he thought better of it and went. 30 Going to the second son, he told him the same; and he answered by saying, ‘I’m going, sir!’ But he didn’t go. 31 Which of those two did what the father wanted?” They said, “The first.” Iēsous said to them, “Amēn I tell you, the tax-collectors and the whores are ahead of you on the way to god’s kingdom. 32 Iōannēs in fact came to you on a path of rectitude, and you didn’t trust him, but the tax-collectors and the whores trusted him. But even when you did see, you didn’t think better afterward and trust him.

  33 “Listen to another comparative story. A man who was head of a household planted a vineyard, and put a fence around it, and hollowed out a wine press in it,*202 and built a watchtower, and leased it to farmers and went abroad. 34 When harvest time was near, he dispatched his slaves to the farmers to get his harvest. 35 But the farmers took his slaves, and one they nearly skinned alive, and one they killed, and one they stoned. 36 Trying again, he sent other slaves, more than in the first group, and they treated them the same. 37 But after that he sent them his own son, saying, ‘They’ll have respect for my son.’ 38 But when the farmers saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come on, let’s kill him, so that we can have his inheritance.’ 39 Then they seized him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. 40 When the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those farmers?” 41 They said to him, “He’ll put a terrible end to those terrible people, and he’ll lease the vineyard out to other
farmers, who’ll give the harvests they owe, right at the harvest times.”*203

  42 Iēsous said to them, “Have you never read this in the writings?

  “ ‘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.’*204

  43 “For this reason, I tell you that god’s kingdom will be taken away from you and given to a nation that produces the harvests of that kingdom. [44 And whoever falls on this stone will be shattered. And whoever it falls on will be pulverized.]”

  45 When the high priests and the Farisaioi heard his stories, they recognized that he was speaking about them. 46 And they were looking to seize him, but they were afraid of the crowds, since these considered him a prophet.

  Chapter 22

  1 Then as a response, Iēsous again spoke in stories for comparison, and he offered them this one. 2 “The kingdom of the skies can be compared to a man who was king, and gave a wedding banquet for his son. 3 And he sent his slaves to invite to the wedding those who’d been invited before, but they didn’t want to go. 4 Again he sent slaves, other ones this time, saying, ‘Tell those I’ve invited, “Look, I’ve prepared my feast,*205 my bulls and other animals fattened on grain are sacrificed, and everything is prepared. Come to the wedding!” ’ 5 But they didn’t care and went away, one to his own farm, and another to his business. 6 The rest of them seized his slaves and abused them outrageously*206 and killed them. 7 Then the king was furious, and he sent his armies, wiped out those murderers, and burned their city. 8 Then he said to his slaves, ‘Well, the wedding banquet is prepared, but those who were invited didn’t deserve it. 9 So make your way to the roads that head out of town, and invite to the wedding banquet as many people as you can find.’ 10 And those slaves went out to the roads and rounded up everyone they could find, worthless and fine people alike, and the wedding banquet was full of people reclining at the tables. 11 But when the king came in to view the people reclining at the tables, he saw one man there who wasn’t outfitted in a wedding outfit. 12 And he said to him, ‘How is it that you came in here without a wedding outfit, pal?’ And that muzzled him. 13 Then the king said to the servers, ‘Tie him up hand and foot and throw him out into the darkness—far out! Where he lands, there’s going to be crying and grinding of teeth in pain.’ 14 There are a lot of invited guests, but not a lot of the chosen best.”*207

  15 Then the Farisaioi went and initiated a plot to ensnare him in an argument. 16 So they sent him their own students, along with Hērōdēs’ people,*208 to say, “Teacher, we know you’re truthful, and that on the basis of truth you teach god’s path and aren’t influenced by anybody, as you don’t look to people’s outward distinctions. 17 So tell us what you think. Is it permitted to pay the individual tax to Kaisar or not?” 18 Recognizing their malice, Iēsous said: “Why are you testing me, you play-actors? 19 Show me the currency in which the individual tax is paid.” And they brought him a denarius. 20 Then he said to them, “Whose image and inscription are these?” 21 They told him, “Kaisar’s.” Then he said to them, “So pay Kaisar what belongs to Kaisar—give it right back to him—and pay god what belongs to god.” 22 And when they heard, they were amazed, and they left him and went away.*209

  23 On that day Saddoukaioi came to him, people who say that there is no rising of the dead again, and they questioned him, 24 saying, “Teacher, Mōüsēs said that if someone dies without having children, his brother is to marry his wife as the next of kin and raise up seed for his brother. 25 There were seven brothers living among us. And the first one married and died, and since he didn’t have seed, he left his wife to his brother. 26 It went the same way for the second brother too, and the third, and eventually all seven. 27 After all of them, the wife died. 28 So when the dead rise, whose wife is she, out of those seven? They in fact all had her.” 29 And Iēsous said to them in answer, “You’re misled, as you don’t know either the writings or the power of god. 30 The fact is that, when rising again, people don’t take wives, and they’re not given as wives; instead, they’re like messengers in the sky. 31 As to the dead rising, haven’t you read what was spoken to you by god when he said: 32 ‘I am the god of Abraam and the god of Isaak and the god of Iakōb’? He’s not [the] god of corpses but of living people!” 33 And when the crowds heard, they were dumbfounded by his teaching.*210

  34 When the Farisaioi heard that he’d put a muzzle on the Saddoukaioi, they gathered at the same place. 35 And one of them[, an expert in the law,] asked a question, testing him. 36 “Teacher, what is the greatest command in the law?” 37 And he told him: “ ‘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.’ 38 This is the greatest and the chief command. 39 The next most important is similar to it: ‘You are to love the one next to you the way you love yourself.’ 40 On these two commands hang the whole of the law and the prophets.”*211

  41 Once the Farisaioi had gathered together, Iēsous questioned them, 42 saying, “What do you all think about the anointed one? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “David’s.” 43 He said to them, “Then what does David, inspired by the life-breath, mean by calling him ‘lord’ when he says,

  44 “ ‘The lord said to my lord,

  “Sit to the right of me

  Until I put your enemies

  Under your feet” ’?

  45 “So if David calls him lord, how is he his son?”*212 46 And no one was able to find any argument with which to answer him; and from that day on, no one even dared to question him any longer.

  Chapter 23

  1 Then Iēsous spoke to the crowds and his students, 2 saying, “The scholars and the Farisaioi have taken their seat on Mōüsēs’ seat of authority. 3 So everything they tell you, do it and keep watch over it, but don’t do according to their behavior, because they say but don’t do. 4 They tie up heavy [and hard-to-carry] loads and put them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves don’t want to lift a finger to help move the things.*213 5 All of their behavior is just a spectacle for people. They actually make their protection-boxes extra wide, and their tassels extra long.*214 6 They love the couch of highest honor at banquets, and the seats of highest honor in the synagogues,*215 7 and respectful greetings in the marketplaces, and being called rabbí by people.

  8 “But you shouldn’t be called rabbí, as you have one teacher, and you’re all brothers.*216 9 And don’t call anyone on earth your father, because you have only one father, who’s in the sky. 10 And you shouldn’t be called instructors,*217 as you have only one instructor, the Anointed One. 11 And the greatest one of you will be the attendant of the rest of you. 12 Whoever raises himself will be lowered, and whoever lowers himself will be raised.

  13 “You have it coming, scholars and Farisaioi, play-actors! You lock up the kingdom of the skies in front of people’s faces. You yourselves don’t in fact enter, and those who are trying to enter you keep from entering.*218

  15 “You have it coming, scholars and Farisaioi, play-actors! You cross the sea and the dry land to gain a single convert,*219 and when you have one, you make him twice as much a son of ge’enna*220 as you are.

  16 “You have it coming, blind guides, who say, ‘If someone swears by the temple’s inner shrine, it doesn’t mean anything; but if someone swears by the gold of the shrine, he’s bound by his oath.’ 17 You morons and blind men! Which is greater, the gold, or the shrine that makes the gold holy? 18 And you say, ‘If someone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but if someone swears by the offering on it, he’s bound by the oath.’ 19 You blind men! Which is greater, the gift, or the altar that makes the offering holy? 20 So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. 21 Whoever swears by the shrine swears by it and by the one who lives in it. 22 And whoever swears by the sky s
wears by god’s throne and by the one who sits on it.*221

  23 “You have it coming, scholars and Farisaioi, play-actors! You pay your ten percent of mint, dill, and cumin,*222 but you’ve abandoned the weightier matters of the law: just verdicts, and mercy, and trust. [But] you should have put the latter into practice, without neglecting the former. 24 You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but gulp down a camel.*223

  25 “You have it coming, scholars and Farisaioi, play-actors! You clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they’re brimming with greed and self-indulgence. 26 Blind Farisaios! First clean the inside of the cup, so that the outside can become clean too.

  27 “You have it coming, scholars and Farisaioi, play-actors! You’re like whitewashed tombs, which on the outside look attractive, but on the inside are brimming with corpses’ bones and every kind of filth. 28 In the same way, on the outside you look upright to other people, but on the inside you’re full of play-acting and lawlessness.

  29 “You have it coming, scholars and Farisaioi, play-actors! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the monuments of upright people, 30 and you say, ‘If we’d lived in the days of our ancestors, we wouldn’t have joined them in shedding the prophets’ blood.’ 31 So you testify against yourselves, admitting you’re the descendants of those who murdered the prophets!*224 32 So take the container in which your fathers’ offenses were measured, and fill it up yourselves. 33 You snakes, viper hatchlings! How can you escape being sentenced to ge’enna?