— — — —

Gospel Reading:
Paying the Imperial Tax to Caesar

Later they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians
to Jesus to catch him in his words.
 They came to him and said,
“Teacher, we know that you are a man of integrity.
You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are;
but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth.
Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not?
 Should we pay or shouldn’t we?”

But Jesus knew their hypocrisy.
“Why are you trying to trap me?” he asked.
“Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.”
 They brought the coin, and he asked them,
“Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”

“Caesar’s,” they replied.

 Then Jesus said to them,
“Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.”

And they were amazed at him.
(Mark 12:13-17).

* * *

God sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.
We saw his son and are now telling others about him.
(1 John 4:14 NIV)

   — — — —

Gospel Reading:
The Parable of the Tenants

Jesus then began to speak to them in parables:
“A man planted a vineyard.
He put a wall around it, dug a pit for the winepress and built a watchtower.
Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place.
At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants
to collect from them some of the fruit of the vineyard.
But they seized him, beat him and sent him away empty-handed.
 Then he sent another servant to them;
they struck this man on the head and treated him shamefully.
He sent still another, and that one they killed.
He sent many others;
some of them they beat, others they killed.

 “He had one left to send, a son, whom he loved.
He sent him last of all, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’

 “But the tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir.
Come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’
So they took him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard.

 “What then will the owner of the vineyard do?
He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others.
 Haven’t you read this passage of Scripture:

“‘The stone the builders rejected
    has become the cornerstone;
 the Lord has done this,
    and it is marvelous in our eyes’?”

Then the chief priests,
the teachers of the law and the elders looked for a way to arrest him
because they knew he had spoken the parable against them.
But they were afraid of the crowd;
so they left him and went away.
(Mark 12:1-12).

* * *

God sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.
We saw his son and are now telling others about him.
(1 John 4:14 NIV)

   — — — —

Gospel Reading:
The Authority of Jesus Questioned

They arrived again in Jerusalem,
and while Jesus was walking in the temple courts,
the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders came to him.
 “By what authority are you doing these things?”
they asked. “And who gave you authority to do this?”

Jesus replied, “I will ask you one question.
Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things.
 John’s baptism—was it from heaven, or of human origin? Tell me!”

 They discussed it among themselves and said,
“If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask,
‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’
 But if we say, ‘Of human origin’ …”
(They feared the people, for everyone held that John really was a prophet.)

So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.”

Jesus said,
“Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.”
(Mark 11:27-33).

* * *

God sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.
We saw his son and are now telling others about him.
(1 John 4:14 NIV)

   — — — —

Gospel Reading:
Jesus Curses a Fig Tree and Clears the Temple Courts

 The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry.
 Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit.
When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves,
because it was not the season for figs.
Then he said to the tree, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.”
And his disciples heard him say it.

On reaching Jerusalem,
Jesus entered the temple courts and began driving out those who were buying and selling there.
He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves,
 and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts.
 And as he taught them, he said, “Is it not written:
‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’?
But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’”

The chief priests and the teachers of the law heard this
and began looking for a way to kill him,
for they feared him,
because the whole crowd was amazed at his teaching.

When evening came, Jesus and his disciples went out of the city.

In the morning, as they went along,
they saw the fig tree withered from the roots.
Peter remembered and said to Jesus,
“Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!”

“Have faith in God,” Jesus answered.
 “Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain,
‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’
and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen,
it will be done for them.
Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer,
believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
 And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone,
forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.” 
(Mark 11:12-26).

* * *

God sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.
We saw his son and are now telling others about him.
(1 John 4:14 NIV)