Jesus

They discussed it among themselves: "If we say, `From Heaven,' he will say, `Then why didn't you believe him?'

So they answered Yeshua, "We don't know." "Then," he replied, "I won't tell you by what s'mikhah I do these things."

Yeshua began speaking to them in parables. "A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a pit for the wine press and built a tower; then he rented it to tenant-farmers and left.

They set about to arrest him, for they recognized that he had told the parable with reference to themselves. But they were afraid of the crowd, so they left him and went away.

Next they sent some P'rushim and some members of Herod's party to him in order to trap him with a sh'eilah.

They came and said to him, "Rabbi, we know that you tell the truth and are not concerned with what people think about you, since you pay no attention to a person's status but really teach what God's way is. Does Torah say that taxes are to be paid to the Roman Emperor, or not?"

But he, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, "Why are you trying to trap me? Bring me a denarius so I can look at it."

They brought one; and he asked them, "Whose name and picture are these?" "The Emperor's," they replied.

Yeshua said, "Give the Emperor what belongs to the Emperor. And give to God what belongs to God!" And they were amazed at him.

Then some Tz'dukim came to him. They are the ones who say there is no such thing as resurrection, so they put to him a sh'eilah:

Yeshua said to them, "Isn't this the reason that you go astray? because you are ignorant both of the Tanakh and of the power of God?

One of the Torah-teachers came up and heard them engaged in this discussion. Seeing that Yeshua answered them well, he asked him, "Which is the most important mitzvah of them all?"

Yeshua answered, "The most important is, `Sh'ma Yisra'el, ADONAI Eloheinu, ADONAI echad [Hear, O Isra'el, the LORD our God, the LORD is one],

and you are to love ADONAI your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your understanding and with all your strength.'

The Torah-teacher said to him, "Well said, Rabbi; you speak the truth when you say that he is one, and that there is no other besides him;

and that loving him with all one's heart, understanding and strength, and loving one's neighbor as oneself, mean more than all the burnt offerings and sacrifices."

When Yeshua saw that he responded sensibly, he said to him, "You are not far from the Kingdom of God." And after that, no one dared put to him another sh'eilah.

As Yeshua was teaching in the Temple, he asked, "How is it that the Torah teachers say the Messiah is the Son of David?

David himself, inspired by the Ruach HaKodesh, said, `ADONAI said to my Lord, "Sit here at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet." '

David himself calls him `Lord'; so how is he his son?" The great crowd listened eagerly to him.

As he taught them, he said, "Watch out for the kind of Torah-teachers who like to walk around in robes and be greeted deferentially in the marketplaces,

Then Yeshua sat down opposite the Temple treasury and watched the crowd as they put money into the offering-boxes. Many rich people put in large sums,

He called his talmidim to him and said to them, "Yes! I tell you, this poor widow has put more in the offering-box than all the others making donations.

As Yeshua came out of the Temple, one of the talmidim said to him, "Look, Rabbi! What huge stones! What magnificent buildings!"

"You see all these great buildings?" Yeshua said to him, "They will be totally destroyed -- not a single stone will be left standing!"