him, because the haill fowk wis cairriet awà bi his teachin.
Whan the eenin cam, Jesus gaed out o the toun.
AS THEY GAED alang the road bytimes neist mornin, they saw the feg-tree, an it wis aa geizent, ruit an ryss. Mindin o the day afore, Peter said tae Jesus, “Luik, Maister, the feg-tree at ye banned is aa geizent!”
“Hae faith in God,” qo Jesus tae them aa. “Atweill, I tell ye, gin onie-ane says tae thon hill, ‘Up wi ye an cast yoursel intil the sea’, an misdouts nane in his hairt, but weill belíeves at what he says will happen, he will een hae his will. Sae I tell ye this: aathing ye seek in prayer, belíeve ye hae gotten it, an ye will een hae it.
“An whan ye staund prayin, forgíe onie wrang at onie-ane may hae dune ye, sae at your Faither in heiven may forgíe ye your ain fauts.”
THEY CAM BACK again tae Jerusalem, an as Jesus wis traivlin back an fore i the Temple, the Heid-Príests, Doctors o the Law, an Elders cam up til him an said til him, “Whattan authoritie hae ye for daein the thíngs ye ar daein? Wha gíed ye the richt tae dae them?”
Jesus said til them, “I will speir ye ae queystin, an gin ye answer it, I will een tell ye what authoritie I hae: John’s baptism—wis it frae heiven, or cam it o men? Answer me that.”
They cuist owre his queystin i their minds an said til ither, “Gin we say, ‘Frae heiven’, syne he will speir, ‘What for did ye no belíeve him, than?’ But ar we tae say, ‘It cam o men’?”—na, they war owre feared for the fowk tae say that; for ane an aa they huid at John wis a prophet, an nae twa weys about it. Sae they said til him, “We canna say.”
“A-weill,” qo Jesus, “I winna tell ye what authoritie I hae for daein what I dae aitherins.”
12 SYNE HE BEGOUD tae speak til them in parables. “A man,” qo he, “plantit a vine-yaird, dykit it round about, howkit a troch, biggit a touer, set the place til a wheen gairdners, an syne fuir awà out o the pairt. At grape-hairst time he sent a servan tae uplift the skair o the crap at his tenants wis awin him, but they grippit hauds o him an loundert him an sent him awà tuim-haundit. Syne he sent anither servan til them, but they cruntit his heid til him an ill-gydit him shamefullie. Yit anither servan he sent til them, but this ane they felled; an een sae wi monie mae—some they loundert, an ithers they felled. He hed ey ane left tae send, his nain dear son; an he sent him, the henmaist o aa, til them. ‘They’ll respeck my son,’ thocht he til himsel. But thae gairdners said til ilk ither, ‘This is the heir; c’wà, lat’s fell him, an the haudin will be our ain.’ Sae they grippit him an felled him an flang his corp outen the vine-yaird.
“Nou, what will the laird o the vine-yaird dae? He will come an kill the gairdners an set the vine-yaird til ithers. Hae ye no read the bit i the Bible whaur it says:
The stane at the biggars cuist aside,
hit is een become the cunyie:
this is the Lord’s wark,
an a ferlie it is in our een?”
They wad fain laid haunds on him, for they weill saw at he wis ettlin at themsels wi his parable. But they war frichtit for the fowk, sae they loot him abee an gaed their waas.
EFTERHIN SOME PHARISEES an Herodians wis sent tae girn him wi a queystin. Thir men cam up an said til him, “Maister, we ken at ye ar an aivendoun man at heedsna ither fowk’s ruise or wyte; for ye carena by wha a man is, but trulie an honestlie teach the wey o God. Tell us nou, is it leisome tae pey the poll-tax tae Caesar, or is it no? What say ye? Ar we tae pey it, or no?”
Jesus saw the doubleness o them an said, “What for seek ye tae fankle me? Fesh a merk, an gíe me a luik o it.” Sae they brocht him a merk, an he said til them, “Wha’s heid an name is thir?”
“Caesar’s,” said they.
“A-weill, than,” qo he, “pey Caesar what belangs Caesar, an pey God what belangs God.” They war fair stoundit at him.
AE DAY SOME SADDUCEES (fowk at threaps there is nae risin again efter deith) cam an speired him a queystin.
“Maister,” said they, “Moses laid it doun in our Law at, gin a man díes laein a wídow but nae childer, his brither suid mairrie his wídow an beget a faimlie til him.
“A-weill, the’ war aince seiven brithers. The auldest o them mairriet a wife an díed laein nae childer; syne the saicond brither mairriet his wídow, an he díed bairnless an aa; it wis the same gate wi the third; an sae it fuir on or the haill seiven o them hed díed, an nae childer left ahent them; an syne, lest o aa, the wuman díed hersel. At the resurrection, than, whan they ar risen again, wha’s wife will she be, seein hou the haill seiven wis mairriet on her?”
Jesus answert them, “Isna this hou ye gae wrang—at ye kenna naither the Bible nor the pouer o God? Whan the deid is risen again, there is nae mair mairriein for man or wuman, they ar like the angels in heiven. As for the risin-up o the deid, hae ye ne’er read i the Buik o Moses, i the bit anent the 61bríar-buss, hou God said til him, ‘I am the God o Abraham an the God o Isaac an the God o Jaucob’? God is nae God o deid men, but a God o men in life. Atweill ye ar freelie wrang!”
A Doctor o the Law at hed hairkent this threap an seen hou weill he answert his queystiners nou cam forrit an speired at him, “Whilk is the first commaund o aa?”
Jesus said til him, “The first commaund is this: ‘Hairken, Israel: the Lord thy God is the onlie Lord; an thou sal luve the Lord thy God wi thy haill hairt an thy haill saul an aa thy wit an aa thy pith.’ The saicond is this: ‘Thou sal luve thy neipour as thysel.’ There is nae ither commaund gryter nor thir twa.”
The Doctor o the Law answert, “Weill an trulie said, Maister: there is but ae God, an nae ither forbye him, an tae luve him wi aa your hairt an aa your understaundin an aa your pith is a hantle better nor aa the brunt offerins an saicrifíces i the warld.”
Seein hou wysslike he answert, Jesus said til him, “Ye arna faur frae the Kíngdom o God.” Efter that nae man daured speir him onie mair queystins.
ANITHER TIME, AS he wis teachin i the Temple, Jesus said, “Hou can the Doctors o the Law up-haud at the Christ is the Son o Dauvit? Dauvit himsel, speakin i the Halie Spírit, said:
The Lord said til my lord:
‘Sit thou at my richt haund,
till I pit thy faes aneth thy feet.’
Dauvit himsel caas him his lord: hou can he be his son avà?”
The maist feck lissent him gledlie. Amang ither things at he said in his teachin o them the’ war this: “Tak tent o the Doctors o the Law,” qo he, “at is fain o brankin on the plainstanes in side gouns, an canna dae wantin becks an bous i the mercat, an is ey ill for the best saits i the sýnagogue an the foremaist places at denners an banqets. Them at hings on a lang face an pits up lang screids o prayer an aa the time is rookin wídows out o their haudins, stick an stow, it will be6 the waur for them at the Juidgement, at will it!”
AE DAY HE wis sittin foregainst the Temple Treisurie, tentin the fowk as they cuist their coins intil the offerin-kists. Efter monie weill-tae-pass fowk hed cuissen in a gey
