Part 22

012:018 "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;

012:019 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.'

012:020 "But God said to him, "`Foolish man, this night your life is demanded from you; and these preparations--for whom shall they be?'

012:021 "So is it with him who amasses treasure for himself, but has no riches in God."

012:022 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.'

012:023 For life is a greater gift than food, and the body is a greater gift than clothing.

012:024 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!

012:025 And which of you is able by anxious thought to add a moment to his life?

012:026 If then you are unable to do even a very little thing, why be over-anxious about other matters?

012:027 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.

012:028 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!

012:029 "Therefore, do not be asking what you are to eat nor what you are to drink; and do not waver between hope and fear.

012:030 For though the nations of the world pursue these things, as for you, your Father knows that you need them.

012:031 But make His Kingdom the object of your pursuit, and these things shall be given you in addition.

012:032 "Dismiss your fears, little flock: your Father finds a pleasure in giving you the Kingdom.

012:033 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.

012:034 For where your wealth is stored, there also will your heart be.

012:035 "Have your girdles on, and let your lamps be alight;

012:036 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.

012:037 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.

012:038 And whether it be in the second watch or in the third that He comes and finds them so, blessed are they.

012:039 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.

012:040 Be you also ready, for at an hour when you are not expecting Him the Son of Man will come."

012:041 "Master," said Peter, "are you addressing this parable to us, or to all alike?"

012:042 "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?

012:043 Blessed is that servant whom his Master when He comes shall find so doing.

012:044 I tell you truly that He will put him in authority over all His possessions.

012:045 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;