44
Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions.
45
But suppose the servant says to himself, ‘My master is taking a long time in coming,’ and he then begins to beat the other servants, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk.
46
The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers.
47
“The servant who knows the master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what the master wants will be beaten with many blows.
48
But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.
Not Peace but Division
49“I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!
50
But I have a baptism to undergo, and what constraint I am under until it is completed!
51
Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division.
52
From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, 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.”
Interpreting the Times
54 He said to the crowd: “When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say, ‘It’s going to rain,’ and it does.