11Verse 1Now when they were drawing near Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, He sent two of His disciples,Verse 2saying to them: “Go into the village opposite you; and as soon as you enter it you will find a foal tied, on which no man has sat. Untie and bring it.Verse 3And if anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord has need of it,’ and thereupon he will send it here.”+Verse 4So they went and found the foal tied at the door, out in the street, and they loosed it.Verse 5Some of those who stood there said to them, “What are you doing, untying the foal?”Verse 6So they answered them just as Jesus had instructed, and they let them go.Verse 7Then they brought the foal to Jesus, and they placed their clothes on it, and He sat on it.Verse 8And many spread their clothes on the road, while others were cutting leafy branches from the trees+and spreading them on the road.Verse 9Both those who went in front and those who followed started calling out, saying:“Hosanna!” “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!”+ Verse 10“Blessed is the Kingdom of our father Davidthat is coming in the name of the Lord!”+“Hosanna in the highest!”Verse 11So Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple. And when He had looked around at everything,+the hour being late, He went out to Bethany with the twelve.
A barren fig tree
Verse 12Now the next day, as they were leaving Bethany, He was hungry.Verse 13And seeing from a distance a fig tree having leaves, He went to see if perhaps He would find something on it. When He came to it He found nothing but leaves, because it was not fig season.+Verse 14So Jesus reacted by saying to it, “Let no one ever eat fruit from you again!”+And His disciples were listening.
Jesus ‘purifies’ the temple (2nd time)—Monday, 04/01/30 AD
Verse 15So they came to Jerusalem, and entering the temple Jesus began to drive out those who sold and bought in the temple, and He overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of the dove sellers.Verse 16And He would not allow anyone to carry a container through the temple.Verse 17And He kept teaching them by saying: “Is it not written, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations’?+but you have made it ‘a den of robbers’!”+Verse 18Well the scribes and the chief priests heard it, and kept on looking for a way to destroy Him;+because they were afraid of Him, in that all the people were astonished at His teaching.Verse 19When evening came, He went out of the city.
How to drown a mountain
Verse 20Now in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots.Verse 21And Peter, remembering, said to Him: “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has dried up!”Verse 22So in answer Jesus said to them: “Have faith in God.+Verse 23Because I tell you assuredly, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be picked up and be thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that the things he says will happen, he will have whatever he says.+Verse 24That is why I say to you, whatever things you ask for in prayer, believe that you receive, and you will have them.Verse 25“And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father, who is in heaven, may also forgive you your trespasses.Verse 26But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your trespasses.”+
Jesus' authority questioned—Tuesday, 04/02/30 AD
Verse 27Then they came again to Jerusalem. And as He was walking in the temple, the chief priests, the scribes and the elders came to Him.Verse 28And they said to Him, “By what authority are you doing these things?” and “Who gave you this authority to do these things?”Verse 29So in answer Jesus said to them: “I also will ask you one question; answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things.Verse 30The baptism of John: was it from heaven or from men?”+Verse 31They considered among themselves, saying: “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘So why did you not believe him?’Verse 32But if we say, ‘From men’…”—they feared the people, for everyone held John to really be a prophet.Verse 33So they answered Jesus by saying, “We don't know.”+And in answer Jesus said to them, “Neither do I tell you by what authority I do these things.”