Part 23

012:046 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.

012:047 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.

012:048 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.

012:049 "I came to throw fire upon the earth, and what is my desire? Oh that it were even now kindled!

012:050 But I have a baptism to undergo; and how am I pent up till it is accomplished!

012:051 Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth? No, I tell you that I came to bring dissension.

012:052 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;

012:053 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."

012:054 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.

012:055 And when you see a south wind blowing, you say, `It will be burning hot;' and it comes to pass.

012:056 Vain pretenders! You know how to read the aspect of earth and sky. How is it you cannot read this present time?

012:057 "Why, too, do you not of yourselves arrive at just conclusions?

012:058 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.

012:059 Never, I tell you, will you get free till you have paid the last farthing."

013:001 Just at that time people came to tell Him about the Galilaeans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.

013:002 "Do you suppose," He asked in reply, "that those Galilaeans were worse sinners than the mass of the Galilaeans, because this happened to them?

013:003 I tell you, certainly not. On the contrary, if you are not penitent you will all perish as they did.

013:004 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?

013:005 I tell you, certainly not. On the contrary, if you do not repent you will all perish just as they did."

013:006 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.

013:007 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?'

013:008 "But the gardener pleaded, "`Leave it, Sir, this year also, till I have dug round it and manured it.

013:009 If after that it bears fruit, well and good; if it does not, then you shall cut it down.'"

013:010 Once He was teaching on the Sabbath in one of the synagogues

013:011 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.

013:012 But Jesus saw her, and calling to her, He said to her, "Woman, you are free from your weakness."

013:013 And He put His hands on her, and she immediately stood upright and began to give glory to God.

013:014 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."