1He began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a pit for the wine press, built a tower, rented it out to a farmer, and went into another country. 2When it was time, he sent a servant to the farmer to get from the farmer his share of the fruit of the vineyard. 3They took him, beat him, and sent him away empty. 4Again, he sent another servant to them; and they threw stones at him, wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully treated. 5Again he sent another, and they killed him, and many others, beating some, and killing some. 6Therefore still having one, his beloved son, he sent him last to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 7But those farmers said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ 8They took him, killed him, and cast him out of the vineyard. 9What therefore will the lord of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the farmers, and will give the vineyard to others. 10Haven’t you even read this Scripture:
‘The stone which the builders rejected
was made the head of the corner.
11This was from the Lord.
It is marvelous in our eyes’?”
12They tried to seize him, but they feared the multitude; for they perceived that he spoke the parable against them. They left him and went away. 13They sent some of the Pharisees and the Herodians to him, that they might trap him with words. 14When they had come, they asked him, “Teacher, we know that you are honest, and don’t defer to anyone; for you aren’t partial to anyone, but truly teach the way of God. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? 15Shall we give, or shall we not give?”
But he, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, “Why do you test me? Bring me a denarius, that I may see it.”
16They brought it.
He said to them, “Whose is this image and inscription?”
They said to him, “Caesar’s.”
17Jesus answered them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
They marveled greatly at him.
18Some Sadducees, who say that there is no resurrection, came to him. They asked him, saying, 19“Teacher, Moses wrote to us, ‘If a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife behind him, and leaves no children, that his brother should take his wife and raise up offspring for his brother.’ 20There were seven brothers. The first took a wife, and dying left no offspring. 21The second took her, and died, leaving no children behind him. The third likewise; 22and the seven took her and left no children. Last of all the woman also died. 23In the resurrection, when they rise, whose wife will she be of them? For the seven had her as a wife.”
24Jesus answered them, “Isn’t this because you are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God? 25For when they will rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. 26But about the dead, that they are raised, haven’t you read in the book of Moses about the Bush, how God spoke to him, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? 27He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are therefore badly mistaken.”
28One of the scribes came and heard them questioning together, and knowing that he had answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the greatest of all?”
29Jesus answered, “The greatest is: ‘Hear, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. 31The second is like this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
32The scribe said to him, “Truly, teacher, you have said well that he is one, and there is none other but he; 33and to love him with all the heart, with all the understanding, all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbor as himself, is more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
34When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from God’s Kingdom.”
No one dared ask him any question after that. 35Jesus responded, as he taught in the temple, “How is it that the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David? 36For David himself said in the Holy Spirit,
‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at my right hand,
until I make your enemies the footstool of your feet.”’
37Therefore David himself calls him Lord, so how can he be his son?”
The common people heard him gladly. 38In his teaching he said to them, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk in long robes, and to get greetings in the marketplaces, 39and to get the best seats in the synagogues and the best places at feasts, 40those who devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. These will receive greater condemnation.”
41Jesus sat down opposite the treasury and saw how the multitude cast money into the treasury. Many who were rich cast in much. 42A poor widow came and she cast in two small brass coins, which equal a quadrans coin. 43He called his disciples to himself and said to them, “Most certainly I tell you, this poor widow gave more than all those who are giving into the treasury, 44for they all gave out of their abundance, but she, out of her poverty, gave all that she had to live on.”
We first encounter Abraham (father of many nations) as Abram (great father) in Genesis 11:26-31). He was the son of Terah, brother of Nahor and Haran, and uncle of Lot. Abram's brother Haran died while Abram was still in Ur of the Chaldees (Gen 11:28), where also he married Sarai, his half-sister. We discover toward the end of Genesis 11 that his father Terah left Ur, and went to the land of Canaan, via a city named Harana, where Terah died.
The story of Abraham becomes important in chapter 12, in which we are introduced to important biblical characters, locations, and events that set the stage for the remainder of the Bible. Yahweh came to Abram was commanded him to go to a land that He would show him. In this passage, Yahweh sets forth and unilateral and unconditional covenant, in which He promised to make from him a great nation, make his name great, and through him bless all of the families of the earth.[1]
"Abraham (Abram) was first of the patriarchs, father of Isaac and Ishmael, grandfather of Jacob and the traditional ancestor of the Jewish people. Abraham (originally Abram, which means "exalted father") came from Ur in Mesopotamia. His father, Terah, took him (with his wife, Sarah, and his nephew, Lot) to Haran. God called Abraham to leave this new home and to find another home elsewhere in Canaan. After a brief stay in Egypt, Abraham settled near Hebron where he became involved in a local political quarrel when Lot was taken prisoner by an alliance of four eastern chieftains. Abraham launched a successful attack against this confederacy and on his victorious return encountered the mysterious Melchizedek, king of Salem, to whom he gave a tenth of all the spoil he had taken in the battle.
For many years of their marriage, he and Sarah were childless, but God assured Abraham that he would eventually become the father of a great nation. Sarah disbelieved and persuaded Abraham to beget a child by her maid, Hagar, who bore him his first son, Ishmael. When Abraham was ninety-nine years old, God appeared to him, and instituted with him a covenant of circumcision, giving him the new name of Abraham (meaning "father of a multitude") and told him that a son, to be named Isaac was shortly to be born to Sarah. When the boy was in his childhood, God ordered Abraham to take him up to a mountain in the land of Moriah and offer him up as a sacrificial victim. Abraham prepared to do so, but was prevented at the last moment from carrying out the sacrifice, and told that he would be blessed for his faithfulness in being ready to offer up his son.
When Sarah died Abraham bought the plot of ground (the field of Ephron in Machpelah) that became the burial place for many generations of his descendants. He subsequently made arrangements for the marriage of Isaac, and took another wife, Keturah, who bore him Zimran, Medan, Midian, Ishbak and Shuah. At the age of one hundred and seventy five, Abraham died and was buried in Machpelah.
The principal narrative of the part of Genesis dealing with Abraham's history is interrupted in various places by other stories involving the patriarch. These include the parallel stories of his sojourns in Egypt and in Gerar. On both occasions Abraham lied about his relations with Sarah, jeopardising the fulfilment of God's promise (as both Pharaoh and Abimelech intended to take Sarah for themselves), while protecting himself. Both times God intervened to save him from the consequences of his deception. In another story we read of Abraham's intercession on behalf of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, which were destroyed for their wickedness."[2]
[1] See Genesis 12:1, for an explanation of God's covenant with Abraham.
[2] Based on the website Mini-Biografias de Personajes Biblicos Web de Recursos Cristianos) (trans. Mini-Biographies of Biblical Characters, Christian Resources Web).