1 The next day Jesus cometh again to Jerusalem, and as he was walking in the temple, there came to him the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders,
2 And say unto him, By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this authority to do these things?
3 And Jesus answered and said unto them, I will also ask of you one question, and answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things.
4 The baptism of John, was it from heaven, or of men? Answer me.
5 And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say, Why then did ye not believe him?
6 But if we shall say, Of men; they feared the people: for all men counted John, that he was a prophet indeed.
7 And they answered and said unto Jesus, We cannot tell. And Jesus answering saith unto them, Neither do I tell you by what authority I do these things.1
8 After that they send unto him certain of the Pharisees and of the Herodians, to catch him in his words.2
9 And when they were come, they say unto him, Teacher, we know that thou art true, and carest for no man: for thou regardest not the person of men, but teachest the way of God in truth: Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar, or not?
10 Shall we give, or shall we not give? But he, knowing their hypocrisy, said unto them, Why tempt ye me? Bring me a denarius, that I may see it.
11 And they brought it. And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? And they said unto him, Caesar’s.
12 And Jesus answering said unto them, Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.
13 And they could not take hold of his words before the people, but they held their peace.
14 Then come unto him certain of the Sadducees, which say there is no resurrection and they asked him, saying,
15 Teacher, Moses wrote unto us, If a man’s brother die, and leave his wife behind him, and leave no children, that his brother should take his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother.
16 Now there were seven brethren: and the first took a wife, and dying left no seed.
17 And the second took her, and died, neither left he any seed: and the third likewise.
18 And the seven had her, and left no seed: last of all the woman died also.
19 In the resurrection therefore, when they shall rise, whose wife shall she be of them? For the seven had her to wife.
20 And Jesus answering said unto them, Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the scriptures, neither the power of God?
21 For when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage.
22 And as touching the dead, that they rise from the dead: have ye not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spake unto him, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?
23 For He is not the God of the dead, but of the living: ye therefore do greatly err.3
24 And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all?
25 And Jesus answered and said, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:
26 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
27 And the second is this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.
28 And the scribe said unto him, Well, Teacher, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he:
29 And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is more than all the burnt offerings and sacrifices.
30 And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that durst ask him any question.4
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Notes
- Mark 11:27-33; Matt. 21:23-27; Luke 20:1-8. ↩
- Mark 12:13-17; Matt. 22:15-22; Luke 20:20-26. In their first public confrontation with Jesus, the temple authorities had lost and learned that they were dealing with a man of extraordinary intelligence. They now made another attempt at checking Jesus by non-physical means and sent some of their clever men to discredit him before the public. But they, too, found Jesus too hard to be caught by words only. ↩
- Mark 12:18-27; Matt. 22:23-33; Luke 20:27-38. Jesus had become the object of keen public interest. Men interested in religious controversies of the time came to him and sought, out of curiosity or some other motive, Jesus’ position on various issues. ↩
- Mark 12:28-34. Matt. 22:34-40. The third synoptic Gospel omits the dialogue (but compare Luke 20:39-40 with Mark 12:32a, 34b). In Mark, the questioner and Jesus are sympathetic toward each other, but Matthew makes the dialogue a continuation of the disputation between various Jewish sects and Jesus. Clearly, Matthew (and Luke, by omitting the dialogue) want to avoid the conclusion that some of the Pharisees and scribes were fully aware of the religious truth taught by Jesus without being his disciples and were not far from the kingdom of God. ↩