35"1Be dressed in 2readiness, and keep your lampslit.
36
"Be likemen who are waiting for their masterwhen he returns from the weddingfeast, so that they may immediatelyopen the door to him when he comes and knocks.
37
"Blessed are thoseslaveswhom the master will find3on the alert when he comes; truly I say to you, that 4he will gird himself to serve, and have them recline at the table, and will come up and wait on them.
38
"5Whether he comes in the secondwatch, oreven in the third, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.
39
"6But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at whathour the thief was coming, he would not have allowed his house to be 7broken into.
40
"8You too, be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour that you do not expect."
41
Petersaid, "Lord, are You addressingthisparable to us, or9to everyone else as well?"
42
And 10the Lordsaid, "11Whothen is the faithful and sensible12steward, whom his master will put in charge of his servants, to give them their rations at the propertime?
43
"Blessed is that 13slavewhom his masterfindssodoing when he comes.
44
"Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions.
45
"But if that slavesays in his heart, 'My master will be a longtime in coming,' and begins to beat the slaves*, both men and women, and to eat and drink and getdrunk;
46
the master of that slave will come on a daywhen he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces, and assign him a place with the unbelievers.
47
"And that slave who knew his master'swill and did not getreadyoract in accord with his will, will14receivemanylashes,
48
but the one who did not 15know it, and committed deeds worthy of a flogging, will receive but few. 16From everyonewho has been givenmuch, much will be required; and to whom they entrustedmuch, of him they will askall the more.
Christ Divides Men
49"I have come to castfire upon the earth; and how I wish it were alreadykindled!
50
"But I have a 17baptism to undergo, and howdistressed I am until it is accomplished!
51
"18Do you suppose that I came to grantpeace on earth? I tell you, no, but ratherdivision;
52
for from now on five members in onehousehold will be divided, threeagainsttwo and twoagainstthree.
53
"They will be divided, 19fatheragainstson and sonagainstfather, motheragainstdaughter and daughteragainstmother, mother-in-lawagainstdaughter-in-law and daughter-in-lawagainstmother-in-law."
54
And He was alsosaying to the crowds, "20When you see a cloudrising in the west, immediately you say, 'A shower is coming,' and so it turns out.
55
"And when you see a southwindblowing, you say, 'It will be a 21hot day,' and it turns out that way.
56
"You hypocrites! 22You knowhow to analyze the appearance of the earth and the sky, but why do you not analyzethis present time?
57
"And 23why do you not even on your owninitiativejudgewhat is right?
58
"For 24while you are going with your opponent to appear before the magistrate, on your way there make an effort to settle with him, so that he may not drag you before the judge, and the judgeturn you over to the officer, and the officerthrow you into prison.
59
"I say to you, you will not get out of thereuntil you have paid the verylast25cent."