There is One God

Gospel of Mark 12

And Jesus began to speak to them in parables: “A man once planted a vineyard, put a fence round it, dug a wine–press, built a tower, and then let it out to tenants and went abroad. 2 At the proper time he sent a servant to the tenants, to receive from them a share of the produce of the vintage; 3 But they seized him, and beat him, and sent him away empty– handed.”

4 “A second time the owner sent a servant to them; this man, too, the tenants struck on the head, and insulted. 5 He sent another, but him they killed; and so with many others, some they beat and some they killed. 6 He had still one son, who was very dear to him; and him he sent to them last of all. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said. 7 But those tenants said to one another: ‘Here is the heir! Come, let us kill him, and his inheritance will be ours.’ 8 So they seized him, and killed him, and threw his body outside the vineyard.”

9 “What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and put the tenants to death, and he will let the vineyard to others. 10 Have you never read this passage of scripture?: ‘The very stone which the builders despised has now itself become the corner– stone; 11 This corner–stone has come from the Lord, and is marvelous in our eyes.’“ 12 After this his enemies were eager to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd; for they saw that it was at them that he had aimed the parable. So they let him alone, and went away.

13 Afterwards they sent to Jesus some of the Pharisees and of the Herodians, to set a trap for him in the course of conversation. 14 These men came to him and said: “Teacher, we know that you are an honest man, and are not afraid of anyone, for you pay no regard to a man’s position, but teach the way of God honestly; are we right in paying taxes to Caesar, or not? 15 Should we pay, or should we not pay?”

Knowing their hypocrisy, Jesus said to them: “Why are you testing me? Bring me a florin to look at.” 16 And, when they had brought it, he asked: “Whose head and title are these?” “The Emperor’s,” they said; 17 And Jesus replied: “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they wondered at him.

18 Next came some Sadducees, the men who maintain that there is no resurrection. Their question was this: 9 “Teacher, in our scriptures Moses decreed that, should a man’s brother die, leaving a widow but no child, the man should take the widow as his wife, and raise up a family for his brother. 20 There were once seven brothers; of whom the eldest took a wife, but died and left no family; 21 And the second took her, and died without family; and so did the third. 22 All the seven died and left no family. The woman herself died last of all. 23 At the resurrection whose wife will she be, all seven brothers having had her as their wife?”

Read a fresh, new take on the Lord’s Prayer.

To continue reading Chapter 12 of the Gospel of Mark and how there is one God, please click on page 2 below.

Luke – Gospel 20 – Give to Ceasar What Is Ceasar’s

On one of these days, when Jesus was teaching the people in the temple courts and preaching the gospel, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, joined by the councilors, confronted him, 2 And addressing him, said: “Tell us what authority you have to do these things. Who is it that has given you this authority?”

3 “I, too,” said Jesus in reply, “will ask you one question. Give me an answer to it. 4 It is about John’s baptism—was it of divine or of human origin?”

5 But they began arguing together: “If we say ‘divine,’ he will say ‘Why did not you believe him?’ 6 But, if we say ‘human,’ the people will all stone us, for they are persuaded that John was a prophet.” 7 So they answered that they did not know its origin. 8 “Then I,” said Jesus, “refuse to tell you what authority I have to do these things.”

9 Then Jesus began to tell the people this parable; “A man once planted a vineyard, and then rented it out to tenants, and went abroad for a long while. 10 At the proper time he sent a servant to the tenants, that they should give him a share of the produce of the vineyard. The tenants, however, beat him and sent him away empty-handed.”

11 “The owner afterwards sent another servant; but the tenants beat and insulted this man too, and sent him away empty-handed. 12 He sent a third; but they wounded this man also, and threw him outside. 13 ‘What shall I do?’ said the owner of the vineyard. ‘I will send my son, who is very dear to me. Perhaps they will respect him.’”

14 “But, on seeing him, the tenants consulted with one another. ‘Here is the heir!’ they said. ‘Let us kill him, and then the inheritance will become ours.’ 15 So they threw him outside the vineyard and killed him. Now what will the owner of the vineyard do to them? 16 He will come and put those tenants to death, and will rent the vineyard to others.”

“Heaven forbid!” they exclaimed when they heard it. 17 But Jesus looked at them and said: “What then is the meaning of this passage: ‘The very stone which the builders despised has now itself become the corner-stone.’ 18 Everyone who falls on that stone will be dashed to pieces, while anyone on whom it falls—it will scatter them like dust.”

19 After this, the teachers of the law and the chief priest were eager to lay hands on Jesus then and there, but they were afraid of the people; for they saw that it was at them that he had aimed this parable. 20 Having watched their opportunity, they afterwards sent some spies, who pretended to be good men, to catch Jesus in the course of conversation, and so enable them to give him up to the governor’s jurisdiction and authority.

21 These men asked Jesus a question. They said: “Teacher, we know that you are right in what you say and teach, and that you do not take any account of a man’s position, but teach the way of God honestly; 22 Are we right in paying tribute to Caesar or not?”

23 Seeing through their deceitfulness, Jesus said to them: 24 “Show me a coin. Whose head and title are on it?” 25 “The Emperor’s,” they said; and Jesus replied: “Well then, pay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God.” 26 They could not lay hold of this answer before the people; and, in their wonder at his reply, they held their tongues.

27 Presently there came up some Sadducees, who maintained that there is no resurrection. Their question was this: 28 “Teacher, Moses laid down for us in his writings that: ‘Should a man’s married brother die, and should he be childless, the man should take the widow as his wife, and raise up a family for his brother.’”

29 “Well, there were once seven brothers; of whom the eldest, after taking a wife, died childless. 30 The second and third brothers both took her as their wife; 31 And so, too, did all seven—dying without children. 32 The woman herself was the last to die. 33 About the woman, then—at the resurrection, whose wife is she to be, all seven brothers having had her as their wife?”

34 “The men and women of this world,” said Jesus, “marry and are given in marriage; 35 But, for those who are thought worthy to attain to that other world and the resurrection from the dead, there is no marrying or being married, 36 Nor indeed can they die again, for they are like angels and, having shared in the resurrection, they are children of God.”

37 “As to the fact that the dead rise, even Moses indicated that, in the passage about the bush, when 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 dead men, but of living. For all live unto him.”

39 “Well said, Teacher!” exclaimed some of the teachers of the law, 40 For they did not venture to question him any further. 41 But Jesus said to them: “How is it that people say that the Christ is to be David’s son? 42 For David, in the Book of Psalms, says himself: ‘The Lord said to my lord: “Sit at my right hand, 43 Until I put thy enemies as a stool for thy feet.”‘ 44 David, then, calls him ‘lord,’ so how is he David’s son?”

45 While all the people were listening, Jesus said to the disciples: 46 “Be on your guard against the teachers of the law, who delight to walk about in long robes, and like to be greeted in the streets with respect, and to have the best seats in the synagogues, and places of honor at dinner. 47 These are the men who rob widows of their houses, and make a pretense of saying long prayers. Their sentence will be all the heavier.”

To read the next chapter of the Book of Luke, please go to The Gospel of Luke – 21.

This Online New Testament Gospel of Luke is excerpted from the book The Living Hour: The Lord’s Prayer for Daily Life (with New Century Gospels). Including over 200 bookmarked citations from the canonical Gospels, this Progressive Christian book appeals to the Unitarian spirit at the heart of all faiths.

Challenge your perceptions on the Gospel of Christ, Jesus’s parables, and the Kingdom of God by purchasing The Lord’s Prayer book today. Produced by LivingHour.org, a Thailand-based small press dedicated to publishing unique Learning Easy Thai Language Books, as well as works on progressive spirituality.

John – Gospel 19 – Jesus Carries His Cross

After that, Pilate had Jesus scourged. 2 The soldiers made a crown with some thorns, and put it on his head, and threw a purple robe round him. 3 They kept coming up to him and saying: “Long live the King of the Jews!” and they gave him blow after blow with their hands.

4 Pilate again came outside, and said to the people: “Look! I am bringing him out to you, so that you may know that I find nothing with which he can be charged.” 5 Then Jesus came outside, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe; and Pilate said to them: “Here is the man!”

6 When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they shouted: “Crucify him! Crucify him!” “Take him yourselves and crucify him,” said Pilate. “For my part, I find nothing with which he can be charged.”

7 “But we,” replied the Jews, “have a law under which he deserves death, for making himself out to be the Son of God.” 8 When Pilate heard what they said, he became still more alarmed; 9 And, going into the government house again, he said to Jesus: “Where do you come from?”

10 But Jesus made no reply. So Pilate said to him: “Do you refuse to speak to me? Do not you know that I have the power to release you, and the power to crucify you?” 11 “You would have no power over me at all,” answered Jesus, “if it had not been given you from above; and, therefore, the man who betrayed me to you is guilty of the greater sin.” 12 This made Pilate anxious to release him; but the Jews shouted: “If you release that man, you are no friend of Caesar! Anyone who makes himself out to be a king is setting himself against the Emperor!”

13 On hearing what they said, Pilate brought Jesus out, and took his seat upon the bench at a place called ‘The Stone Pavement’—in Hebrew ‘Gabbatha.’14 It was the Passover preparation day, and about noon. Then he said to the Jews: “Here is your King!” 15 At that the people shouted: “Kill him! Kill him! Crucify him!”

“What! Shall I crucify your king?” exclaimed Pilate. “We have no king but Caesar,” replied the chief priests; 16 Whereupon Pilate gave Jesus up to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus; 17 And he went out, carrying his cross himself to the place named for a skull, or, in Hebrew, Golgotha.

18 There they crucified him, and two others with him—one on each side, and Jesus between them. 19 Pilate also had these words written, and put up over the cross: ‘JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.’ 20 These words were read by many of the Jews, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and they were written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek. 21 The Jewish chief priests said to Pilate: “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews’, but write what the man said, ‘I am the King of the Jews.’” 22 But Pilate answered: “What I have written, I have written.”

23 When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four shares—a share for each soldier—and they took the coat also. The coat had no seam, being woven in one piece from top to bottom. 24 So they said to one another: “Do not let us tear it, but let us cast lots for it, to see who shall have it.” This was in fulfillment of the words of scripture: ‘They shared my clothes among them, and over my clothing they cast lots.’ That was what the soldiers did.

25 Meanwhile near the cross of Jesus were standing his mother and his mother’s sister, as well as Mary the wife of Clopas and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved, standing near, he said to his mother: “There is your son.” 27 Then he said to that disciple: “There is your mother.” And from that very hour the disciple took her to live in his house.

28 Afterwards, knowing that everything was now finished, Jesus said, in fulfillment of the words of scripture: “I am thirsty.” 29 There was a bowl standing there full of common wine; so they put a sponge soaked in the wine on the end of a hyssop-stalk, and held it up to his mouth. 30 When Jesus had received the wine, he exclaimed: “All is finished!” Then, bowing his head, he gave up the ghost.

31 It was the preparation day, and so, to prevent the bodies from remaining on the crosses during the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a great day), the Jews asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies removed. 32 Accordingly the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first man, and then those of the other who had been crucified with Jesus; 33 But, on coming to him, when they saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34 One of the soldiers, however, pierced his side with a spear, and blood and water immediately flowed from it.

35 This is the statement of one who actually saw it—and his statement may be relied upon, and he knows that he is speaking the truth—and it is given in order that you also may be convinced. 36 For all this took place in fulfillment of the words of scripture: ‘Not one of its bones shall be broken.’ 37 And there is another passage which says: ‘They will look upon him whom they pierced.’

38 After this, Joseph of Arimathaea, a disciple of Jesus—but a secret one, owing to his fear of the Jews—begged Pilate’s permission to remove the body of Jesus. Pilate gave him leave; so Joseph went and removed the body. 39 Nicodemus, too—the man who had formerly visited Jesus by night—came with a roll of myrrh and aloes, weighing nearly a hundred pounds.

40 They took the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen with the spices, according to the Jewish mode of burial. 41 At the place where Jesus had been crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a newly-made tomb in which no one had ever been laid. 42 And so, because of its being the preparation day, and as the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.

To read the next chapter in the Book of John, please go to The Gospel of John – 20.

Excerpted from the book The Living Hour: The Lord’s Prayer for Daily Life (with New Testament Gospels). A faith book especially suited for Progressive Christianity workshops, Bible Study Groups, Unitarian Christians, and all who seek a richer life.

Challenge your perceptions on the Gospel of Christ, Jesus’s parables, and the Kingdom of God by purchasing The Lord’s Prayer book today. Produced by LivingHour.org, a Thailand-based small press dedicated to publishing unique Learning Easy Thai Language Books, as well as works on progressive spirituality.