Mark 12:1-27

Jesus then told them this story: A farmer once planted a vineyard. He built a wall around it and dug a pit to crush the grapes in. He also built a lookout tower. Then he rented out his vineyard and left the country. When it was harvest time, he sent a servant to get his share of the grapes. The renters grabbed the servant, beat him up, and sent him away without a thing. The owner sent another servant, but the renters beat him on the head and insulted him terribly. Then the man sent another servant, and they killed him. He kept sending servant after servant. They beat some of them and killed some. The owner had a son he loved very much. Finally, he sent his son to the renters because he thought they would respect him. But they said to themselves, “Someday he will own this vineyard. Let's kill him! That way we can have it all for ourselves.” So they grabbed the owner's son, killed him, and threw his body out of the vineyard. Jesus asked, “What do you think the owner of the vineyard will do? He will come and kill those renters and let someone else have his vineyard. You surely know that the Scriptures say, ‘The stone the builders tossed aside is now the most important stone of all. This is something the Lord has done, and it is amazing to us.’ ” The leaders knew that Jesus was really talking about them, and they wanted to arrest him. But because they were afraid of the crowd, they let him alone and left. The Pharisees got together with Herod's followers. Then they sent some men to trick Jesus into saying something wrong. They went to him and said, “Teacher, we know that you are honest. You treat everyone with the same respect, no matter who they are. And you teach the truth about what God wants people to do. Tell us, should we pay taxes to the Emperor or not?” Jesus knew what they were up to, and he said, “Why are you trying to test me? Show me a coin!” They brought him a silver coin, and he asked, “Whose picture and name are on it?” “The Emperor's,” they answered. Then Jesus told them, “Give the Emperor what belongs to him and give God what belongs to God.” The men were amazed at Jesus. The Sadducees did not believe that people would rise to life after death. So some of them came to Jesus and said: Teacher, Moses wrote that if a married man dies and has no children, his brother should marry the widow. Their first son would then be thought of as the son of the dead brother. There were once seven brothers. The first one married, but died without having any children. The second brother married his brother's widow, and he also died without having children. The same thing happened to the third brother, and finally to all seven brothers. At last the woman died. When God raises people from death, whose wife will this woman be? After all, she had been married to all seven brothers. Jesus answered: You are completely wrong! You don't know what the Scriptures teach. And you don't know anything about the power of God. When God raises people to life, they won't marry. They will be like the angels in heaven. You surely know about people being raised to life. You know that in the story about Moses and the burning bush, God said, “I am the God worshiped by Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” He isn't the God of the dead, but of the living. You Sadducees are all wrong.