"All right," said Jesus, "do whatever your duty is to Caesar and his
government. You will have to decide about that for yourselves. And
also do your duty to God!"
It was such a clever answer that no one had a word to say. And Jesus
still had not said anything that he could be punished for.
But he said a great deal to make his enemies angry. About the
Pharisees he spoke the hardest words he ever said.
"Watch out for the scribes and the Pharisees," he told the people,
"and don't be like them. They love to walk around in their long white
robes, and to have everybody bow to them in the street, and to sit in
the best seats in the synagogues and at dinners. All the time they are
taking money from poor widows and they try to cover it up by making
long prayers."
Turning to the Pharisees themselves, he went on:
"Woe to you Pharisees! You are like graves with rotting bodies in
them, which people walk over without knowing what is underneath.
Nobody knows how bad you are. You snakes! How can you escape the
punishment which God is bringing upon you?"
He left the Pharisees and went into the Temple, where people were
making their gifts to God. Many rich men came in, and put large sums
of money in the money box. Then came a poor widow who put two small
coins into the box.
Jesus called his disciples to him, and said:
"I tell you, this poor widow has given more than all these rich people
are giving. For the rich have plenty of money, and it doesn't cost
them anything to give what they do. But this poor woman needs her
money, and she has given all she has."
With many words and stories he taught the people who thronged around
him on the days of that week. And this was the last story he ever
told:
"Someday I shall sit upon my throne, and judge all the nations of the
earth. To some people I will say:
"'Come--my Heavenly Father loves you. Take the reward he has planned
for you to have. For I was hungry, and you gave me food. I was
thirsty, and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger, and you
took me into your homes. I had nothing to wear, and you gave me
clothes. I was sick, and in prison, and you came to visit me!'
"Then these people will be surprised, and say, 'Lord when did we ever
do anything for you?'
"And I will say: 'You were kind to the poor and the sick and the
hungry, who did not count for anything on earth. You did not know it
at the time, but when you did a kindness to them, it was to me you
really did it.'
"Then I will say to others: 'Go away. God wants nothing to do with
you! For I was hungry, and thirsty, and naked, and sick, and in
prison, and you did nothing at all for me.'
"These people will also be surprised. They will say: 'Lord, when did
we ever see you hungry, or thirsty, or naked, or sick, or in prison?
If we had seen you needing anything, we would have helped you!'
"And I will say: 'Many poor people needed your help, and you did not
help them. When you failed them, you failed me. And now it is too
late!'"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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