12
“I Tell You This, My Friends”
1 As all these things took place,+ when so many thousands of people had gathered that they were trampling on one another, Jesus+ began to speak to his disciples first: “Be on your guard against the yeast—that is, the hypocrisy—of the Pharisees.
2 Now, there is nothing hidden that will not be brought out into the open, or secret that will not be made known.+
3 Everything ᵖyou have talked about, therefore,+ when we’re by ourselves,+ will be heard right+ out in the open,+ and what ᵖyou have talked about behind closed doors+ privately+ will be proclaimed publicly from the rooftops.+
4 “Now I tell ᵖyou this, my friends: Don’t fear those who can+ kill the body but after that can do nothing more.
5 I will warn+ ᵖyou whom you should fear: Fear+ the one who, after the killing, has authority to have+ ᵖyou thrown into Gehenna.+ Yes, I tell ᵖyou, he is the one+ you must fear!
6 Five sparrows+ are sold for two pennies,+ aren’t they? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God.+
7 Why, even the hairs on your head have all+ been counted. Don’t be afraid. ᵖYou are worth more than many, many+ sparrows.
8 “I tell ᵖyou this: If+ a person openly acknowledges his allegiance+ to me in the presence of men, the Son of Man, likewise, will himself+ openly acknowledge that person+ as his own in the presence of the angels of God.
9 If+ someone disowns me in the presence of men, however, he will be disowned in the presence of the angels of God.
10 And if+ a person speaks something against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him. If+ someone speaks blasphemy, however,+ against the Spirit, he will not be forgiven.
11 “When people+ bring ᵖyou before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, don’t worry about how ᵖyou should make your defense+ or what you should say.
12 The Holy Spirit, you see, is the one+ who will teach ᵖyou at that time+ what you are to say.”+
“Be on Your Guard against Every Kind of Greed … Don’t Worry about Your Life, What You Will Eat”
13 Someone in the crowd said to Jesus,+ “Teacher, please+ tell my brother to give me my share+ of the family+ inheritance.”+
14 “Sir,”+ Jesus said to him, “who was it+ that appointed me to decide your case and divide the property between ᵖyou?”+
15 Then he said to them, “Watch out and be on your guard against every kind of greed, because it isn’t+ the abundance of his possessions on which a person’s life depends.+”
16 Then he told them a parable: “There was a certain rich man whose land produced an abundant harvest.
17 ‘What should I do?’ he began wondering to himself. ‘I don’t have anywhere to store my crops.’
18 Then he said, ‘This is what+ I’ll do: I will tear down my barns and build some that are even+ bigger, where I will store+ all my wheat and my other+ goods.
19 Then I’ll say to myself, “Lucky man!+ You have enough stored up to last you for many years.+ Take life easy; eat, drink, and enjoy yourself.” ’
20 But God said to him, ‘You foolish man! Tonight your very+ life will be+ demanded back from ˢyou. The things you have prepared for yourself+—whose will they be?’+
21 This is how it will be with anyone who stores up treasures for himself but is not rich in this:+ The things that truly matter in the sight of God.+”
22 Then Jesus+ said to his disciples, “That’s why I tell ᵖyou this: Don’t worry about ᵖyour life, what you will eat, or about ᵖyour body, what you will wear.
23 Life, after all, is far+ more than food, and your body more than clothing.
24 Consider the ravens: They don’t sow, they don’t reap, they have no storeroom or barn, and yet it is+ God who keeps+ providing them with food.+ Of truly+ how much greater worth are ᵖyou than the birds?
25 “Now who of ᵖyou by worrying can add an hour to his life+?+
26 Well then, if ᵖyou aren’t able to do even so+ trivial+ a thing as that, why should+ you worry about the other+ things?
27 Consider the wildflowers, how they grow: They don’t toil, nor do they spin thread. Nevertheless, I tell ᵖyou this: Not even+ Solomon in all his splendor was adorned like one of these!
28 Well, if this is how+ God clothes the grass in the field, which is here today but tomorrow is put into the oven,+ how much more surely+ is he going to clothe+ ᵖyou, O ᵖyou of little faith!
29 ᵖYou, indeed, mustn’t fret+ about what you will eat or what you will drink; don’t be anxious.
30 Concerning+ all+ these things, you see, it is+ the Gentile world+ that sets its heart+ on them. ᵖYour Father, however, knows that you need these things.
31 Instead, continually+ set your hearts+ on his Kingdom, and these things will be provided+ for ᵖyou.
32 Don’t be afraid, little flock, because ᵖyour Father has gladly chosen to give ᵖyou the Kingdom.+
33 Sell ᵖyour possessions and give the money+ to the poor.+ Make for yourselves money bags that will not wear out, an unfailing treasure stored away+ in the heavens, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.
34 Where ᵖyour treasure is, you see, there your hearts, too, themselves+ will be.”
“Be Dressed and Ready for Service”
35 “Be dressed and ready for service and keep your lamps burning;+
36 ᵖyou must be like servants+ waiting expectantly for their master to return from the wedding festivities,+ so that when he comes and knocks, they can immediately open the door for him.
37 Blessed are those slaves whom the master, upon his arrival, finds awake and watching.+ Amen, I solemnly+ tell ᵖyou this: The master+ will dress himself to serve+ and have them recline at the meal table, and coming up to where+ they are, he will serve them.
38 If he comes in the second, or even+ in the third watch of the night+ and finds them awake and watchful,+ blessed are those slaves.
39 But understand this: If the master of the household had recognized+ at what time+ the thief+ was about to come,+ he would not have allowed the thief+ to break into his house.
40 ᵖYou, too, must yourselves+ be prepared. For it is+ in+ an appointed time+ ᵖyou don’t suppose that the Son of Man is going to come.”+
41 “Lord,” Peter said, “is it only+ to us that you are addressing this parable, or to everyone?”
42 The Lord replied, “Who then is the trustworthy+ and wise+ steward,+ whom the master will put in charge of his household servants to give them at the appointed time their allotted portion of food+?
43 Blessed is that slave whom the master,+ upon his arrival, finds doing this.
44 I tell ᵖyou the truth: The master+ will over all his possessions+ put that slave+ in charge.+
45 But suppose that slave says to himself,+ ‘My master is delayed in coming,’+ and begins to beat the other slaves, both men and women,+ and to eat and drink and get drunk—
46 the master of that slave will come in+ a day that the slave+ is not anticipating and in an appointed time+ he doesn’t recognize+ and cut him in two;+ that slave’s+ portion he will make the same as the punishment he assigns+ to the unfaithful.+
47 As for that servant who knew his master’s will but didn’t make preparations or do what his master wanted,+ he will be punished with many lashes.+
48 The one who didn’t know his master’s will+ and yet did things deserving of punishment,+ however, will be punished with few lashes. From everyone who has been given much, much+ will be required, and from the one who has been entrusted with much, even+ more will be demanded.+
“I’m Here to Bring Fire to the Land”
49 “I am here+ to bring fire+ to the land,+ and how I wish it were already lit!
50 Yet I have a baptism+ of overwhelming affliction+ to undergo,+ and how distressed I am until it is finished!
51 Do ᵖyou think that peace is what+ I’m here to bring to the land+? No, I tell ᵖyou, not peace,+ but division.
52 There will be from now on five people divided, you see,+ in one and the same family,+ three against two and two against three.
53 They will be divided father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law+ and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.+”
“The Present Appointed Time You Don’t Know How to Interpret?”
54 Jesus+ also said to the crowds: “When ᵖyou see clouds beginning to form in the west,+ you immediately say, ‘Here comes a thunderstorm,+’ and it turns out that way.
55 And when ᵖyou feel+ a wind from the south beginning to blow in, you say, ‘It’s going to be a real+ scorcher,’ and it is.
56 You hypocrites! The appearance of the sky ᵖyou do+ know how to interpret, but the present appointed time ᵖyou don’t know how to interpret? How in the world+ is this?
“Do Your Best to Settle the Matter with Him on the Way”
57 “Why don’t ᵖyou weigh out what is right, moreover,+ based on your own judgment?++
58 For example, as ˢyou are going with ˢyour accuser before the official serving as judge,+ do your best to settle the matter with him on the way.+ Otherwise, he may drag ˢyou before the judge; the judge, in turn, will hand you over to the court officer; the court officer, in turn, will throw you into prison.
59 I tell ˢyou this: You will certainly not get out of there until you have paid back the very+ last cent+ you owe.+”