Luke:12-13

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* Meanwhile the people had come streaming towards Him by tens of thousands , so that they were trampling one another under foot . And now He proceeded to say to His disciples first , »Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees , that is to say , beware of hypocrisy . * There is nothing that is covered up which will not be uncovered , nor hidden which will not become known . * Whatever therefore you have said in the dark , will be heard in the light ; and what you have whispered within closed doors will be proclaimed from the house-tops . * »But to you who are my friends I say ,« `Be not afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do nothing further . * I will warn you whom to fear : fear him who after killing has power to throw into Gehenna : yes , I say to you , fear him . * Are not five sparrows sold for a penny ? and yet not one of them is a thing forgotten in God 's sight . * But the very hairs on your heads are all counted . Away with fear : you are more precious than a multitude of sparrows .' * »And I tell you that every man who shall have acknowledged me before men , the Son of Man will also acknowledge before the angels of God .« * But he who disowns me before men will be disowned before the angels of God . * »Moreover every one who shall speak against the Son of Man , may obtain forgiveness ; but he who blasphemes the Holy Spirit will never obtain forgiveness .« * And when they are bringing you before synagogues and magistrates and governors , do not anxiously ponder the manner or matter of your defence , nor what you are to say ; * for the Holy Spirit shall teach you at that very moment what you must say .« * Just then a man in the crowd appealed to Him . »Rabbi ,« he said , »tell my brother to give me a share of the inheritance .« * »Man ,« He replied , »who has constituted me a judge or arbitrator over you ?« * And to the people He said , »Take care , be on your guard against all covetousness , for no one 's life consists in the superabundance of his possessions .« * And He spoke a parable to them . »A certain rich man 's lands ,« He said , »yielded abundant crops , * and he debated within himself , saying , »`What am I to do ? for I have no place in which to store my crops .' * »And he said to himself ,« `This is what I will do : I will pull down my barns and build larger ones , and in them I will store up all my harvest and my wealth ; * and I will say to my life , »`Life , you have ample possessions laid up for many years to come : take your ease , eat , drink , enjoy yourself .' * »But God said to him ,« `Foolish man , this night your life is demanded from you ; and these preparations –for whom shall they be ?' * »So is it with him who amasses treasure for himself , but has no riches in God .« * Then turning to His disciples He said , »For this reason I say to you , `Dismiss all anxious care for your lives , inquiring what you are to eat , and for your bodies , what you are to put on .' * For life is a greater gift than food , and the body is a greater gift than clothing . * Observe the ravens . They neither sow nor reap , and have neither store-chamber nor barn . And yet God feeds them . How far more precious are you than the birds ! * And which of you is able by anxious thought to add a moment to his life ? * If then you are unable to do even a very little thing , why be over-anxious about other matters ? * Observe the lilies , how they grow . They neither labour nor spin . And yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour was as beautifully dressed as one of these . * But if God so clothes the vegetation in the fields , that blooms to-day and to-morrow will be thrown into the oven , how much more certainly will He clothe you , you men of feeble faith ! * »Therefore , do not be asking what you are to eat nor what you are to drink ; and do not waver between hope and fear .« * For though the nations of the world pursue these things , as for you , your Father knows that you need them . * But make His Kingdom the object of your pursuit , and these things shall be given you in addition . * »Dismiss your fears , little flock : your Father finds a pleasure in giving you the Kingdom .« * Sell your possessions and give alms . Provide yourselves with purses that will never wear out , a treasure inexhaustible in Heaven , where no thief can come nor moth consume . * For where your wealth is stored , there also will your heart be . * »Have your girdles on , and let your lamps be alight ; * and be yourselves like men waiting for their master –on the look-out till he shall return from the wedding feast – that , when he comes and knocks , they may open the door instantly . * Blessed are those servants , whom their Master when He comes shall find on the watch . I tell you in solemn truth , that He will tie an apron round Him , and will bid them recline at table while He comes and waits on them . * And whether it be in the second watch or in the third that He comes and finds them so , blessed are they . * Of this be sure , that if the master of the house had known what time the robber was coming , he would have kept awake and not have allowed his house to be broken into . * Be you also ready , for at an hour when you are not expecting Him the Son of Man will come .« * »Master ,« said Peter , »are you addressing this parable to us , or to all alike ?« * »Who , then ,« replied the Lord , »is the faithful and intelligent steward whom his Master will put in charge of His household to serve out their rations at the proper times ? * Blessed is that servant whom his Master when He comes shall find so doing . * I tell you truly that He will put him in authority over all His possessions . * But if that servant should say in his heart , `My Master is a long time in coming ,' and should begin to beat the menservants and the maids , and to eat and drink , drinking even to excess ; * that servant 's Master will come on a day when he is not expecting Him and at an hour that he knows not of , and will punish him severely , and make him share the lot of the unfaithful . * And that servant who has been told his Master 's will and yet made no preparation and did not obey His will , will receive many lashes . * But he who had not been told it and yet did what deserved the scourge , will receive but few lashes . To whomsoever much has been given , from him much will be required ; and to whom much has been entrusted , of him a larger amount will be demanded . * »I came to throw fire upon the earth , and what is my desire ? Oh that it were even now kindled ! * But I have a baptism to undergo ; and how am I pent up till it is accomplished ! * Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth ? No , I tell you that I came to bring dissension . * For from this time there will be in one house five persons split into parties . Three will form a party against two and two will form a party against three ; * father against son and son against father ; mother attacking daughter and daughter her mother , mother-in-law her daughter-in-law , and daughter-in-law her mother-in-law .« * Then He said to the people also , »When you see a cloud rising in the west , you immediately say , `There is to be a shower ;' and it comes to pass . * And when you see a south wind blowing , you say , `It will be burning hot ;' and it comes to pass . * Vain pretenders ! You know how to read the aspect of earth and sky . How is it you cannot read this present time ? * »Why , too , do you not of yourselves arrive at just conclusions ? * For when , with your opponent , you are going before the magistrate , on the way take pains to get out of his power ; for fear that , if he should drag you before the judge , the judge may hand you over to the officer of the court , and the officer lodge you in prison . * Never , I tell you , will you get free till you have paid the last farthing .« * Just at that time people came to tell Him about the Galilaeans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices . * »Do you suppose ,« He asked in reply , »that those Galilaeans were worse sinners than the mass of the Galilaeans , because this happened to them ? * I tell you , certainly not . On the contrary , if you are not penitent you will all perish as they did . * Or those eighteen on whom the tower at Siloam fell , do you suppose they had failed in their duty more than all the rest of the people who live in Jerusalem ? * I tell you , certainly not . On the contrary , if you do not repent you will all perish just as they did .« * And He gave them the following parable . »A man ,« He said , »who had a fig-tree growing in his garden came to look for fruit on it and could find none . * So he said to the gardener , »`See , this is the third year I have come to look for fruit on this fig-tree and cannot find any . Cut it down . Why should so much ground be actually wasted ?' * »But the gardener pleaded ,« `Leave it , Sir , this year also , till I have dug round it and manured it . * If after that it bears fruit , well and good ; if it does not , then you shall cut it down .'« * Once He was teaching on the Sabbath in one of the synagogues * where a woman was present who for eighteen years had been a confirmed invalid : she was bent double , and was unable to lift herself to her full height . * But Jesus saw her , and calling to her , He said to her , »Woman , you are free from your weakness .« * And He put His hands on her , and she immediately stood upright and began to give glory to God . * Then the Warden of the Synagogue , indignant that Jesus had cured her on a Sabbath , said to the crowd , »There are six days in the week on which people ought to work . On those days therefore come and get yourselves cured , and not on the Sabbath day .« * But the Lord 's reply to him was , »Hypocrites , does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his bullock or his ass from the stall and lead him to water ? * And this woman , daughter of Abraham as she is , whom Satan had bound for no less than eighteen years , was she not to be loosed from this chain because it is the Sabbath day ?« * When He had said this , all His opponents were ashamed , while the whole multitude was delighted at the many glorious things continually done by Him . * This prompted Him to say , »What is the Kingdom of God like ? and to what shall I compare it ? * It is like a mustard seed which a man drops into the soil in his garden , and it grows and becomes a tree in whose branches the birds roost .« * And again He said , »To what shall I compare the Kingdom of God ? * It is like yeast which a woman takes and buries in a bushel of flour , to work there till the whole is leavened .« * He was passing through town after town and village after village , steadily proceeding towards Jerusalem , * when some one asked Him , »Sir , are there but few who are to be saved ?« * »Strain every nerve to force your way in through the narrow gate ,« He answered ; »for multitudes , I tell you , will endeavour to find a way in and will not succeed . * As soon as the Master of the house shall have risen and shut the door , and you have begun to stand outside and knock at the door and say , »`Sir , open the door for us ' –«`I do not know you ,' He answers ; `you are no friends of mine .' * »Then you will plead ,« `We have eaten and drunk in your company and you have taught in our streets .' * »But He will reply ,« `I tell you that you are no friends of mine . Begone from me , all of you , wrongdoers that you are .' * »There will be the weeping and gnashing of teeth , when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the Prophets in the Kingdom of God , and yourselves being driven far away . * They will come from east and west , from north and south , and will sit down at the banquet in the Kingdom of God . * And I tell you that some now last will then be first , and some now first will then be last .« * Just at that time there came some Pharisees who warned Him , saying , »Leave this place and continue your journey ; Herod means to kill you .« * »Go ,« He replied , »and take this message to that fox : «`See , to-day and to-morrow I am driving out demons and effecting cures , and on the third day I finish my course .' * »Yet I must continue my journey to-day and to-morrow and the day following ; for it is not conceivable that a Prophet should perish outside of Jerusalem . * O Jerusalem , Jerusalem , thou who murderest the Prophets and stonest those who have been sent to thee , how often have I desired to gather thy children just as a hen gathers her brood under her wings , and you would not come ! * See , your house is left to you . But I tell you that you will never see me again until you say , * One day –it was a Sabbath – He was taking a meal at the house of one of the Rulers of the Pharisee party , while they were closely watching Him .

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