13Someone in the crowdsaid to Him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me."
14
But He said to him, "1Man, whoappointed Me a judgeorarbitratorover you?"
15
Then He said to them, "2Beware, and be on your guardagainsteveryform of greed; for not even whenonehas an abundance does his lifeconsist of his possessions."
16
And He told them a parable, saying, "The land of a richman was veryproductive.
17
"And he began reasoning to himself, saying, 'What shall I do, since I havenoplace to store my crops?'
18
"Then he said, 'This is what I will do: I will teardown my barns and buildlargerones, and there I will storeall my grain and my goods.
19
'And I will say to my soul, "Soul, 3you havemanygoodslaid up for manyyears to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry."'
20
"But Godsaid to him, '4You fool! This very night5your soul is required of you; and 6now who will own what you have prepared?'
21
"So is the man who 7stores up treasure for himself, and is not richtowardGod."
22
And He said to His disciples, "8For thisreason I say to you, do not worryabout your life, as to what you will eat; nor for your body, as to what you will put on.
23
"For life is more than food, and the bodymore than clothing.
24
"Consider the 9ravens, for they neithersownorreap; they have nostoreroomnor10barn, and yet Godfeeds them; howmuchmorevaluable you are than the birds!
25
"And which of you by worryingcanadd a single 11hour to his life'sspan?
26
"Ifthen you cannot* do even a verylittlething, why do you worryaboutothermatters?
27
"Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neithertoilnorspin; but I tell you, not even12Solomon in all his gloryclothed himself likeone of these.
28
"But ifGodsoclothes the grass in the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, howmuchmore will He clothe you? 13You men of littlefaith!
29
"And do not seekwhat you will eat and what you will drink, and do not 14keep worrying.
30
"For allthesethings the nations of the worldeagerlyseek; but your Fatherknows that you needthesethings.
31
"But seek His kingdom, and 15thesethings will be added to you.
32
"16Do not be afraid, 17littleflock, for 18your Father has chosengladly to give you the kingdom.
33
"19Sell your possessions and give to charity; makeyourselvesmoneybelts which do not wear out, 20an unfailingtreasure in heaven, wherenothiefcomesnearnormothdestroys.
34
"For 21where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Be in Readiness
35"22Be dressed in 23readiness, 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 find24on the alert when he comes; truly I say to you, that 25he will gird himself to serve, and have them recline at the table, and will come up and wait on them.
38
"26Whether he comes in the secondwatch, oreven in the third, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.
39
"27But 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 28broken into.
40
"29You 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, or30to everyone else as well?"
42
And 31the Lordsaid, "32Whothen is the faithful and sensible33steward, whom his master will put in charge of his servants, to give them their rations at the propertime?
43
"Blessed is that 34slavewhom 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, will35receivemanylashes,
48
but the one who did not 36know it, and committed deeds worthy of a flogging, will receive but few. 37From 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 38baptism to undergo, and howdistressed I am until it is accomplished!
51
"39Do 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, 40fatheragainstson and sonagainstfather, motheragainstdaughter and daughteragainstmother, mother-in-lawagainstdaughter-in-law and daughter-in-lawagainstmother-in-law."
54
And He was alsosaying to the crowds, "41When 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 42hot day,' and it turns out that way.
56
"You hypocrites! 43You knowhow to analyze the appearance of the earth and the sky, but why do you not analyzethis present time?
57
"And 44why do you not even on your owninitiativejudgewhat is right?
58
"For 45while 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 verylast46cent."