When they came to the crowd, a man came to him, knelt before him,

I brought him to your disciples, but they were not able to heal him.”

They will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised.” And they became greatly distressed.

Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, I tell you, but seventy-seven times!

For there are some eunuchs who were that way from birth, and some who were made eunuchs by others, and some who became eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The one who is able to accept this should accept it.”

The young man said to him, “I have wholeheartedly obeyed all these laws. What do I still lack?”

The disciples were greatly astonished when they heard this and said, “Then who can be saved?”

When it was about nine o’clock in the morning, he went out again and saw others standing around in the marketplace without work.

So they went. When he went out again about noon and three o’clock that afternoon, he did the same thing.

They said to him, “Lord, let our eyes be opened.”

The blind and lame came to him in the temple courts, and he healed them.

And leaving them, he went out of the city to Bethany and spent the night there.

And whatever you ask in prayer, if you believe, you will receive.”

The boy answered, ‘I will not.’ But later he had a change of heart and went.

Again he sent other slaves, more than the first, and they treated them the same way.

So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.

They wanted to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowds, because the crowds regarded him as a prophet.

Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying:

Then the Pharisees went out and planned together to entrap him with his own words.

They sent to him their disciples along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are truthful, and teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You do not court anyone’s favor because you show no partiality.