Tuesday of Holy Week

Mark 11: 20-Mark 13:37

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

"Have faith in God," Jesus answered. "I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ & does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, & it will be yours. And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins."

They arrived in Jerusalem, & while Jesus was walking in the temple courts, the chief priests, the teachers of the law & 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, & I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. John’s baptism—was it from heaven, or from men? Tell me!"

They discussed it among themselves & said, "If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him? But if we say, ‘From men’…." 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 12

He 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 & built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers & went away on a journey. 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 & sent him away empty-handed. Then he sent another servant to them; they struck this man on the head & 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, & the inheritance will be ours.’ So they took him & killed him, & threw him out of the vineyard. What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come & kill those tenants & give the vineyard to others. Haven’t you read this scripture: "’The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; the Lord has done this, & it is marvelous in our eyes’?"

Then they 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 & went away.

Later they sent some of the Pharisees & Herodians to Jesus to catch Him in His words. They came to Him & said, "Teacher, we know you are a man of integrity. You aren’t swayed by men, 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 taxes 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 & let me look at it." They brought the coin, & He asked them, "Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?" "Caesar’s," they replied. Then Jesus said to them, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s & to God what is God’s." And they were amazed at Him.

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 & leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow & have children for his brother. Now there were seven brothers. The first one married & 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 bush, how God said to him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, & the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are badly mistaken!"

One of the teachers of the law came & 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 & with all your soul & with all your mind & 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 & with all your strength, & to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than burnt offerings & 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 to ask Him any more questions.

While Jesus was teaching in the temple courts, He asked, "How is it that the teachers of the law say that the Christ 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.

As He taught, Jesus said, "Watch out for the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes & be greeted in the marketplaces, & have the most important seats in the synagogues & the places of honor at banquets. They devour widow’s houses & for a show make lengthy prayers. Such men will be punished most severely."

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

Calling His disciples to Him, Jesus said, "It tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasuring 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 13

As he was leaving the temple, one of His disciples said to Him, "Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!" "Do you see all these great buildings?" replied Jesus. "Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down."

As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John & Andrew asked Him privately, "Tell us, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are all about to be fulfilled?"

Jesus said to them, "Watch out that no one deceived you. Many will come in My name, claiming, ‘I am He,’ and will deceive many. When you hear of wars & rumors of war, do not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, & kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, & famines. These are the beginning of birth pains. You must be on your guard. You will be handed over to the local councils & flogged in the synagogues. On account of Me you will stand before governors & kings as witnesses to them. And the gospel must first be preached to all nations. Whenever you are arrested & brought to trial, do not worry beforehand about what to say. Just say whatever is given you at the time, for it not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit."

"Brother will betray brother to death, & a father his child. Children will rebel against their parents & have them put to death. All men will hate you because of Me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved."

"When you see ‘the abomination that causes desolation’ standing where it does not belong—let the reader understand—then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let no one on the roof of his house go down or enter the house to take anything out. Let no one in the field go back to get his cloak. How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women & nursing mothers! Pray that this will not take place in winter, because those will be days of distress unequaled from the beginning, when God created the world, until now--& never to be equaled again. If the Lord had not cut short those days, no one would survive. But for the sake of the elect, whom He has chosen, He has shortened them. At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ! or, ‘Look, there He is!’ do not believe it. For false Christs & false prophets will appear & perform signs & miracles to deceive the elect—if that were possible. So be on your guard, I have told you everything ahead of time."

"But in those days, following that distress, ’the sun will be darkened, & the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, & the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’ At that time men will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power & glory. And He will send His angels & gather His elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens."

"Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender & its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that it is near, right at the door. I tell you the truth; this generation will certainly not pass away all these things have happened. Heaven & earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away."

"No one knows about that day or hour, 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 & puts his servants in charge, each with his assigned task, & 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!"