WEEK 37 | SUNDAY | LUKE 19-20

This week’s Year in the Gospels readings come from Luke chapters 19-20. Below are the daily readings followed by the full reading for this week:

Monday: Luke 19:1-10
Tuesday: Luke 19:11-28
Wednesday: Luke 19:29-47
Thursday: Luke 20:1-26
Friday: Luke 20:27-47

This Week’s Full Reading

19 Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through it. ² Now a man named Zacchaeus was there; he was a chief tax collector and was rich. ³ He was trying to get a look at Jesus, but being a short man he could not see over the crowd. ⁴ So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, because Jesus was going to pass that way. ⁵ And when Jesus came to that place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down quickly, because I must stay at your house today.” ⁶ So he came down quickly and welcomed Jesus joyfully. ⁷ And when the people saw it, they all complained, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” ⁸ But Zacchaeus stopped and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, half of my possessions I now give to the poor, and if I have cheated anyone of anything, I am paying back four times as much!” ⁹ Then Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this household, because he too is a son of Abraham! ¹⁰ For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

¹¹ While the people were listening to these things, Jesus proceeded to tell a parable, because he was near to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately. ¹² Therefore he said, “A nobleman went to a distant country to receive for himself a kingdom and then return. ¹³ And he summoned ten of his slaves, gave them ten minas, and said to them, ‘Do business with these until I come back.’ ¹⁴ But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man to be king over us!’ ¹⁵ When he returned after receiving the kingdom, he summoned these slaves to whom he had given the money. He wanted to know how much they had earned by trading. ¹⁶ So the first one came before him and said, ‘Sir, your mina has made ten minas more.’ ¹⁷ And the king said to him, ‘Well done, good slave! Because you have been faithful in a very small matter, you will have authority over ten cities.’ ¹⁸ Then the second one came and said, ‘Sir, your mina has made five minas.’ ¹⁹ So the king said to him, ‘And you are to be over five cities.’ ²⁰ Then another slave came and said, ‘Sir, here is your mina that I put away for safekeeping in a piece of cloth. ²¹ For I was afraid of you, because you are a severe man. You withdraw what you did not deposit and reap what you did not sow.’ ²² The king said to him, ‘I will judge you by your own words, you wicked slave! So you knew, did you, that I was a severe man, withdrawing what I didn’t deposit and reaping what I didn’t sow? ²³ Why then didn’t you put my money in the bank, so that when I returned I could have collected it with interest?’ ²⁴ And he said to his attendants, ‘Take the mina from him, and give it to the one who has ten.’ ²⁵ But they said to him, ‘Sir, he has ten minas already!’ ²⁶ ‘I tell you that everyone who has will be given more, but from the one who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. ²⁷ But as for these enemies of mine who did not want me to be their king, bring them here and slaughter them in front of me!’”

²⁸ After Jesus had said this, he continued on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. ²⁹ Now when he approached Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples, ³⁰ telling them, “Go to the village ahead of you. When you enter it, you will find a colt tied there that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. ³¹ If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ just say, ‘The Lord needs it.’” ³² So those who were sent ahead found it exactly as he had told them. ³³ As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying that colt?” ³⁴ They replied, “The Lord needs it.” ³⁵ Then they brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt, and had Jesus get on it. ³⁶ As he rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road. ³⁷ As he approached the road leading down from the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen: ³⁸ “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” ³⁹ But some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” ⁴⁰ He answered, “I tell you, if they keep silent, the very stones will cry out!”

⁴¹ Now when Jesus approached and saw the city, he wept over it, ⁴² saying, “If you had only known on this day, even you, the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. ⁴³ For the days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and surround you and close in on you from every side. ⁴⁴ They will demolish you—you and your children within your walls—and they will not leave within you one stone on top of another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.”

⁴⁵ Then Jesus entered the temple courts and began to drive out those who were selling things there, ⁴⁶ saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house will be a house of prayer,’ but you have turned it into a den of robbers!”

⁴⁷ Jesus was teaching daily in the temple courts. The chief priests and the experts in the law and the prominent leaders among the people were seeking to assassinate him, ⁴⁸ but they could not find a way to do it, for all the people hung on his words.

20 Now one day, as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple courts and proclaiming the gospel, the chief priests and the experts in the law with the elders came up ² and said to him, “Tell us: By what authority are you doing these things? Or who is it who gave you this authority?” ³ He answered them, “I will also ask you a question, and you tell me: ⁴ John’s baptism—was it from heaven or from people?” ⁵ So they discussed it with one another, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why did you not believe him?’ ⁶ But if we say, ‘From people,’ all the people will stone us, because they are convinced that John was a prophet.” ⁷ So they replied that they did not know where it came from. ⁸ Then Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by whose authority I do these things.”

⁹ Then he began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard, leased it to tenant farmers, and went on a journey for a long time. ¹⁰ When harvest time came, he sent a slave to the tenants so that they would give him his portion of the crop. However, the tenants beat his slave and sent him away empty-handed. ¹¹ So he sent another slave. They beat this one too, treated him outrageously, and sent him away empty-handed. ¹² So he sent still a third. They even wounded this one, and threw him out. ¹³ Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What should I do? I will send my one dear son; perhaps they will respect him.’ ¹⁴ But when the tenants saw him, they said to one another, ‘This is the heir; let’s kill him so the inheritance will be ours!’ ¹⁵ So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? ¹⁶ He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others.” When the people heard this, they said, “May this never happen!” ¹⁷ But Jesus looked straight at them and said, “Then what is the meaning of that which is written: ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone’? ¹⁸ Everyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, and the one on whom it falls will be crushed.” ¹⁹ Then the experts in the law and the chief priests wanted to arrest him that very hour, because they realized he had told this parable against them. But they were afraid of the people.

²⁰ Then they watched him carefully and sent spies who pretended to be sincere. They wanted to take advantage of what he might say so that they could deliver him up to the authority and jurisdiction of the governor. ²¹ Thus they asked him, “Teacher, we know that you speak and teach correctly, and show no partiality, but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. ²² Is it right for us to pay the tribute tax to Caesar or not?” ²³ But Jesus perceived their deceit and said to them, ²⁴ “Show me a denarius. Whose image and inscription are on it?” They said, “Caesar’s.” ²⁵ So he said to them, “Then give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” ²⁶ Thus they were unable in the presence of the people to trap him with his own words. And stunned by his answer, they fell silent.

²⁷ Now some Sadducees (who contend that there is no resurrection) came to him. ²⁸ They asked him, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies leaving a wife but no children, that man must marry the widow and father children for his brother. ²⁹ Now there were seven brothers. The first one married a woman and died without children. ³⁰ The second ³¹ and then the third married her, and in this same way all seven died, leaving no children. ³² Finally the woman died too. ³³ In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For all seven had married her.”

³⁴ So Jesus said to them, “The people of this age marry and are given in marriage. ³⁵ But those who are regarded as worthy to share in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. ³⁶ In fact, they can no longer die, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, since they are sons of the resurrection. ³⁷ But even Moses revealed that the dead are raised in the passage about the bush, where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. ³⁸ Now he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for all live before him.” ³⁹ Then some of the experts in the law answered, “Teacher, you have spoken well!” ⁴⁰ For they did not dare any longer to ask him anything.

⁴¹ But he said to them, “How is it that they say that the Christ is David’s son? ⁴² For David himself says in the book of Psalms,

‘The Lord said to my lord,
“Sit at my right hand,
⁴³ until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”’

⁴⁴ If David then calls him ‘Lord,’ how can he be his son?”

⁴⁵ As all the people were listening, Jesus said to his disciples, ⁴⁶ “Beware of the experts in the law. They like walking around in long robes, and they love elaborate greetings in the marketplaces and the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. ⁴⁷ They devour widows’ property, and as a show make long prayers. They will receive a more severe punishment.”

The previous translation is from the NET Bible translation. Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NET) are from the NET Bible® copyright ©1996, 2019 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. All rights reserved.