— — — —

Gospel Reading:
Jesus Anointed at Bethany

Now the Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread were only two days away,
and the chief priests
and the teachers of the law were scheming to arrest Jesus secretly and kill him.
“But not during the festival,” they said, “or the people may riot.”

While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of Simon the Leper,
a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume,
made of pure nard.
She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head.

 Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another,
“Why this waste of perfume?
It could have been sold for more than a year’s wages
and the money given to the poor.”
And they rebuked her harshly.

 “Leave her alone,” said Jesus.
“Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me.
 The poor you will always have with you,
 and you can help them any time you want.
But you will not always have me.
 She did what she could.
She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial.
 Truly I tell you, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world,
what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”

Then Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve,
went to the chief priests to betray Jesus to them.
 They were delighted to hear this and promised to give him money.
So he watched for an opportunity to hand him over.
(Mark 14:1-11).

* * *

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 Day and Hour Unknown

“But about that day or hour no one knows,
not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.
 Be on guard! Be alert!
You do not know when that time will come.
It’s like a man going away:
He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge,
each with their assigned task,
and tells the one at the door to keep watch.

“Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back—
whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn.
 If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping.
 What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch!’”
(Mark 13:32-37).

* * *

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 Widow’s Offering

Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put
and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury.
Many rich people threw in large amounts.
But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins,
worth only a few cents.

Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said,
“Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others.
 They all gave out of their wealth;
but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—
all she had to live on.”
(Mark 12:41-44).

* * *

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:
Warning Against the Teachers of the Law

As he taught, Jesus said,
“Watch out for the teachers of the law.
They like to walk around in flowing robes
and be greeted with respect in the marketplaces,
 and have the most important seats in the synagogues
and the places of honor at banquets.
They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers.
These men will be punished most severely.”
(Mark 12:38-40).

* * *

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:
Whose Son Is the Messiah?

While Jesus was teaching in the temple courts, he asked,
“Why do the teachers of the law say that the Messiah is the son of David?
David himself, speaking by the Holy Spirit, declared:

“‘The Lord said to my Lord:
    “Sit at my right hand
until I put your enemies
    under your feet.”’

 David himself calls him ‘Lord.’ How then can he be his son?”

The large crowd listened to him with delight.
(Mark 12:35-37).

* * *

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 Greatest Commandment

One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating.
Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer,
he asked him,
“Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”

“The most important one,” answered Jesus,
“is this: ‘Hear, O Israel:
The Lord our God, the Lord is one.
 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul
and with all your mind and with all your strength.’
The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
There is no commandment greater than these.”

“Well said, teacher,” the man replied.
“You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him.
 To love him with all your heart,
with all your understanding and with all your strength,
and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him,
“You are not far from the kingdom of God.”
And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions.
(Mark 12:28-34).

* * *

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:
Marriage at the Resurrection

Then the Sadducees,
who say there is no resurrection,
came to him with a question.
 “Teacher,” they said,
“Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children,
the man must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother.
Now there were seven brothers.
The first one married and died without leaving any children.
 The second one married the widow, but he also died, leaving no child.
It was the same with the third.
In fact, none of the seven left any children. Last of all, the woman died too.
 At the resurrection whose wife will she be,
since the seven were married to her?”

Jesus replied,
“Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God?
 When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage;
they will be like the angels in heaven.
 Now about the dead rising—have you not read in the Book of Moses,
in the account of the burning bush, how God said to him,
‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’?
He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are badly mistaken!”
(Mark 12:18-27).

* * *

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:
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)