| When they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage, unto mount Olivet: then sent Jesus two of his disciples, saying to them: Go into the town that lieth over against you, and *anon ye shall find an ass bound, and her colt with her: loose them and bring them unto me. And if any man say ought unto you, say ye that the Lord hath need of them: and straight way he will let them go. All this was done, to fulfil that which was spoken by the prophet, saying: Tell ye the daughter of Sion: behold thy king cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass and a colt, the foal of an ass used to the yoke. The disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them, and brought the ass and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and set him thereon. And many of the people spread their garments in the way. Other cut down branches from the trees, and *strawed them in the way. Moreover the people that went before, and they also that came after, cried saying: Hosanna to the son of David. Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest.
And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved saying: who is this? And the people said: this is Jesus the Prophet of Nazareth a city of Galilee. And Jesus went in to the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money changers, and the seats of them that sold doves, and said to them: It is written, my house shall be called the house of prayer. But ye have made it a den of thieves. And the blind and the halt came to him in the temple, and he healed them.
When the chief Priests and Scribes saw the marvels that he did, and the children crying in the temple and saying: Hosanna to the son of David, they disdained, and said unto him: hearest thou what these say? Jesus said unto them yee: have ye never read, of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast ordained praise? And he left them, and went out of the city unto Bethany, and had his abiding there.
In the morning as he returned into the city again, he hungered, and spied a fig tree in the way, and came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said to it, never fruit grow on thee hence forward. And *anon the fig tree withered away. And when his disciples saw that, they marvelled saying. How soon is the fig tree withered away? Jesus answered, and said unto them: Verily I say unto you, if ye shall have faith and shall not doubt, ye shall not only do that which I have done to the fig tree: but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, take thyself away, and cast thyself into the sea, it shall be done. And whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer (if ye believe) ye shall receive it.
And when he was come in to the temple, the chief Priests and the elders of the people, came unto him as he was teaching, and said by what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this power? Jesus answered, and said unto them: I also will ask of you a certain question, which if ye *assoil me, I in like wise will tell you by what authority I do these things. The *baptime of John: whence was it? from heaven or of men? Then they reasoned among themselves saying: if we shall say from heaven, he will say unto us: why did ye not then believe him? But and if we shall say of men, then fear we the people. For all men held John as a prophet. And they answered Jesus and said: we cannot tell. And he likewise said unto them: neither tell I you by what authority I do these things. What say ye to this? A certain man had two sons, and came to the elder and said: son go and work today in my vineyard. He answered and said, I will not: but afterward repented and went. Then came he to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said: I will sir: yet went not. Whether of them *twain did the will of the father? And they said unto him: the first. Jesus said unto them: verily I say unto you, that the publicans and the harlots shall come into the kingdom of God before you. For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not. But the publicans and the harlots believed him. And yet ye (though ye saw it) were not yet moved with repentance, that ye might afterward have believed him.
Hearken another similitude. There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and made a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went in to a strange country. And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen to receive the fruits of it. And the husbandmen caught his servants, and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again, he sent other servants, more than the first: and they served them likewise. But last of all, he sent unto them his own son saying: they will fear my son. But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves. This is the heir: come, let us kill him, and let us take his inheritance to ourselves. And they caught him and thrust him out of the vineyard, and slew him. When the Lord of the vineyard cometh, what will he do with those husbandmen? They said unto him: he will cruelly destroy those evil persons, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall deliver him the fruit at times convenient. Jesus said unto them: did ye never read in the scriptures? The stone which the builders refused the same is set in the principal part of the corner: this was the Lords doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes. Therefore say I unto you, the kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and shall be given to the Gentiles, which shall bring forth the fruits of it. And whosoever shall fall on this stone, he shall be broken, but on whosoever it shall fall upon, it will grind him to powder. And when the chief Priests and Pharisees heard these similitudes, they perceived that he spake of them. And they went about to lay hands on him, but they feared the people, because they took him as a Prophet. |
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