5“Everything they do is for show. On their arms they wear extra wide prayer boxes with Scripture verses inside, and they wear robes with extra long tassels.6And they love to sit at the head table at banquets and in the seats of honor in the synagogues.7They love to receive respectful greetings as they walk in the marketplaces, and to be called ‘jRabbi.’
8…
1Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples,2“The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees are the official interpreters of the law of Moses.3So practice and obey whatever they tell you, but don’t follow their example. For they don’t practice what they teach.4They crush people with unbearable religious demands and never lift a finger to ease the burden.…
41Then, surrounded by the Pharisees, Jesus asked them a question:42“What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?”
They replied, “He is the son of David.”
43Jesus responded, “Then why does David, speaking under the inspiration of the Spirit, call the Messiah ‘my Lord’? For David said,
44‘The LORD said to my Lord,
Sit in the place of honor at my right hand…
34But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees with his reply, they met together to question him again. 35One of them, an expert in religious law, tried to trap him with this question: 36“Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?”
37Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all …
23That same day Jesus was approached by some Sadducees—religious leaders who say there is no resurrection from the dead. They posed this question:24“Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies without children, his brother should marry the widow and have a child who will carry on the brother’s name.’25Well, suppose there were seven brothers. The oldest one married and then died without children, so his brother …
15Then the Pharisees met together to plot how to trap Jesus into saying something for which he could be arrested.16They sent some of their disciples, along with the supporters of Herod, to meet with him. “Teacher,” they said, “we know how honest you are. You teach the way of God truthfully. You are impartial and don’t play favorites.17Now tell us what you think about this: …
1Jesus also told them other parables. He said,2“The Kingdom of Heaven can be illustrated by the story of a king who prepared a great wedding feast for his son.3When the banquet was ready, he sent his servants to notify those who were invited. But they all refused to come!
4“So he sent other servants to tell them, ‘The feast has been prepared. The bulls …
33“Now listen to another story. A certain landowner planted a vineyard, built a wall around it, dug a pit for pressing out the grape juice, and built a lookout tower. Then he leased the vineyard to tenant farmers and moved to another country.34At the time of the grape harvest, he sent his servants to collect his share of the crop.35But the farmers grabbed his servants, …
28“But what do you think about this? A man with two sons told the older boy, ‘Son, go out and work in the vineyard today.’29The son answered, ‘No, I won’t go,’ but later he changed his mind and went anyway.30Then the father told the other son, ‘You go,’ and he said, ‘Yes, sir, I will.’ But he didn’t go.
31“Which of the two obeyed …
18In the morning, as Jesus was returning to Jerusalem, he was hungry,19and he noticed a fig tree beside the road. He went over to see if there were any figs, but there were only leaves. Then he said to it, “May you never bear fruit again!” And immediately the fig tree withered up.
20The disciples were amazed when they saw this and asked, “How did the fig tree wither so …