The Gospel According to Luke, chapters 12 - 17
12 Meanwhile, when a crowd of many thousands had gathered,
packed so close that they were treading on one another, he began to speak
first to his disciples: 'Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees; I mean their
hypocrisy. There is nothing covered up that will not be uncovered,
nothing hidden that will not be made known. You may take it, then, that
everything you have said in the dark will be heard in broad daylight, and
what you have whispered behind closed doors will be shouted from the
house-tops.
'To you who are my friends I say: Do not fear those who kill the body and
after that have nothing more they can do. I will warn you whom to fear:
fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Believe me,
he is the one to fear.
'Are not sparrows five for twopence? And yet not one of them is over-
looked by God. More than that, even the hairs of your head have all been
counted. Have no fear; you are worth more than any number of sparrows.
'I tell you this: everyone who acknowledges me before men, the Son of
Man will acknowledge before the angels of God; but he who disowns me
before men will be disowned before the angels of God.
'Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will receive forgive-
ness; but for him who slanders the Holy Spirit there will be no forgiveness.
'When you are brought before synagogues and state authorities, do
not begin worrying about how you will conduct your defence or what you
will say. For when the time comes the Holy Spirit will instruct you what
to say.'
A man in the crowd said to him, 'Master, tell my brother to divide the
family property with me.' He replied, 'My good man, who set me over you
to judge or arbitrate?' Then he said to the people, 'Beware! Be on your
guard against greed of every kind. for even when a man has more than
enough, his wealth does not give him life.' And he told them this parable:
'There was a rich man whose land yielded heavy crops. He debated with
himself: "What am I to do? I have not the space to store my produce. This
is what I will do," said he: "I will pull down my storehouses and build them
bigger. I will collect in them my corn and other goods, and then say to
myself, 'Man, you have plenty of good things laid by, enough for many
years: take life easy eat, drink, and enjoy yourself.' " But God said to
him, "You fool, this very night you must surrender your life; you have
made your money — who will get it now?" This is how it is with the
man who amasses wealth for himself and remains a pauper in the sight
of God.
'Therefore', he said to his disciples, 'I bid you put away anxious thoughts
about food to keep you alive and clothes to cover your body. Life is more
than food, the body more than clothes. Think of the ravens: they neither
sow nor reap; they have no storehouse or barn; yet God feeds them. You
are worth far more than the birds! Is there a man among you who by
anxious thought can add a foot to his height? If, then, you cannot do even
a very little thing, why are you anxious about the rest
'Think of the lilies: thy neither spin nor weave; yet I tell you, even
Solomon in all his splendour was not attired like one of these. But if that is
how god clothes the grass, which is growing in the field today, and to-
morrow is thrown on the stove, how much more will he clothe you! How
little faith you have! And so you are not to set your mind on food and drink;
you are not to worry. For all these are things for the heathen to run after;
but you have a Father who knows that you need them. No, set your mind
upon his kingdom, and the rest will come to you as well.
'Have no fear, little flock; for your Father has chosen to give you the
Kingdom. Sell your possessions and give in charity. Provide for yourselves
purses that do not wear out, and never-failing treasure in heaven, where no
thief can get near it, no moth destroy it. For where your treasure is, there
will your heart be also.
'Be ready for action, with belts fastened and lamps alight. Be like men
who wait for their master's return from a wedding-party, ready to let him
in the moment he arrives and knocks. Happy are those servants whom the
master finds on the alert when he comes. I tell you this: he will fasten his
belt, seat them at the table, and come and wait on them. Even if it is the middle
of the night or before dawn when he comes, happy they if he finds them
alert. And remember, if the householder had known what time the burglar
was coming he would not have let his house be broken into. Hold your-
selves ready, then, because the Son of Man will come at a time you least
expect him.'
Peter said, 'Lord, do you intend this parable specially for us or is it for
everyone?' The Lord said, 'Well, who is the trusty and sensible man whom
his master will appoint as his steward, to manage his servants and issue
their rations at the proper time? Happy that servant who is found at his
task when the master comes! I tell you this: he will be put in charge of all
his master's property. But if the servant says to himself, "The master is a
long time coming", and begins to bully the menservants and maids, and
eat and drink and get drunk; then the master will arrive on a day that
servant does not expect, at a time he does not know, and will cut him in
pieces. Thus he will find his place among the faithless.
'The servant who knew his master's wishes, yet made no attempt to
carry them out, will be flogged severely. But one who did not know them and
earned a beating will be flogged less severely. Where a man has been given
much, much will be expected of him; and the more a man has entrusted
to him the more he will be required to repay.
'I have come to set fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already
kindled! I have a baptism to undergo, and what constraint I am under until
the ordeal is over! Do you suppose I came to establish peace on earth? No
indeed, I came to bring division. For from now on, five members of a
family will be divided, three against two and two against three; father
against son, and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter
against mother, mother against son's wife, and son's wife against her
mother-in-law.'
He also said to the people, "When you see cloud banking up in the west,
you say at once, "It is going to rain", and rain it does. And when the wind is
from the south, you say, "There will be a heat-wave", and there is. What
hypocrites you are! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and
sky; how is it you cannot interpret this fateful hour?
'And why can you not judge for yourselves what is the right course?
When you are going with your opponent to court, make an effort to settle
with him while you are still on the way; otherwise he may drag you before
the judge, and the judge hand you over to the constable, and the constable
put you in jail. I tell you, you will not come out until you have paid the last
farthing.'
13 At that very time there were some people present who told him about
the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. He
answered them: 'Do you imagine that, because these Galileans suffered
this fate, they must have been greater sinners than anyone else in Galilee?
I tell you they were not; but unless you repent, you will all of you come to
the same end. Or the eighteen people who were killed when the tower fell
on them at Siloam — do you imagine they were more guilty than all the
other people living in Jerusalem? I tell you they were not; but unless you
repent, you will all of you come to the same end.'
He told them this parable: 'A man had a fig-tree growing in his vineyard;
and he came looking for fruit on it, but found none. So he said to the vine-
dresser, "Look here! For the last three years I have come looking for fruit
on this fig-tree without finding any. Cut it down. Why should it go on
using up the soil?" But he replied, "Leave it, sir, this one year while I dig
round it and manure it. And if it bears next season, well and good; if not,
you shall have it down." '
One Sabbath he was teaching in the synagogue, and there was a woman
there possessed by a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She
was bent double and quite unable to stand up straight. When Jesus saw her
he called and said, 'You are rid of your trouble.' Then he laid his hands
on her, and at once she straightened up and began to praise God. But the
president of the synagogue, indignant with Jesus for healing on the
Sabbath, intervened and said to the congregation, 'There are six working-
days: come and be cured on one of them, and not on the Sabbath.' The
Lord gave him his answer: 'What hypocrites you are!' he said. 'Is there a
single one of you who does not loose his ox or his donkey from the manger
and take it out to water on the Sabbath? And here is this woman, a daughter
of Abraham, who has been kept prisoner by Satan for eighteen long years:
was it wrong for her to be freed from her bonds on the Sabbath?' At these
words all his opponents were covered with confusion, while the mass of
the people were delighted at the wonderful things he was doing.
'What is the kingdom of God like?' he continued. 'What shall I compare
it with? It is like a mustard-seed which a man took and sowed in his
garden; and it grew to be a tree and the birds came to roost among its
branches.'
Again he said, 'The kingdom of God, what shall I compare it with? It is
like yeast which a woman took and mixed with half a hundredweight of
flour till it was all leavened.'
He continued his journey through towns and villages, teaching as
he made his way towards Jerusalem. Someone asked him, 'Sir, are only a
few to be saved?' His answer was: 'Struggle to get in through the narrow
door; for I tell you that many will try to enter and not be able.
'When once the master of the house has got up and locked the door, you
may stand outside and knock, and say, "Sir, let us in!", but he will only
answer, "I do not know where you come from." Then you will begin to say,
"We sat at table with you and you taught in our streets." But he will repeat,
"I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Out of my sight, all of
you, you and your wicked ways!" There will be wailing and grinding of
teeth there, when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets,
in the kingdom of God, and yourselves thrown out. From east and west
people will come, from north and south, for the feast in the kingdom of
God. Yes, and some who are now last will be first, and some who are first
will be last.'
At that time a number of the Pharisees came to him and said, 'You should
leave this place and go on your way; Herod is out to kill you.' He replied,
'Go and tell that fox, "Listen: today and tomorrow I shall be casting out
devils and working cures; on the third day I reach my goal." However,
i must be on my way today and tomorrow and the next day, because it is
unthinkable for a prophet to meet his death anywhere but in Jerusalem.
'O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that murders the prophets and stones
the messengers sent to her! How often have I longed to gather your chil-
dren, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings; but you would not let
me. Look, look! there is your temple, forsaken by God. And I tell you,
you shall never see me until the time comes when you say, "Blessings on
him who comes in the name of the Lord!" '
14 One Sabbath he went to have a meal in the house of a leading Pharisee;
and they were watching him closely. There, in front of him, was a man
suffering from dropsy. Jesus asked the lawyers and the Pharisees: 'Is it
permitted to cure people on the Sabbath or not?' They said nothing. So
he took the man, cured him, and sent him away. Then he turned to them
and said, 'If one of you has a donkey or an ox and it falls into a well, will
he hesitate to haul it up on the Sabbath day?' To this they could find no
reply.
When he noticed how the guests were trying to secure the places of
honour, he spoke to them in a parable: 'When you are asked by someone to
a wedding-feast, do not sit down in the place of honour. It may be that some
person more distinguished than yourself has been invited; and the host
will come and say to you, "Give this man your seat." Then you will look
foolish as you begin to take the lowest place. No, when you receive an
invitation, go and sit down in the lowest place, so that when your host
comes he will say, "Come up higher, my friend." Then all your fellow-
guests will see the respect in which you are held. For everyone who exalts
himself will be humbled; and whosoever humbles himself will be exalted.'
The he said to his host, 'When you are having a party for lunch or
supper, do not invite your friends, your brothers or other relation, or
your rich neighbours; they will only ask you back again and so you will
be repaid. But when you give a party, ask the poor, the crippled, the lame,
and the blind; and so find happiness. For they have no means of repaying
you; but you will be repaid on the day when good men rise from the dead.'
'One of the company, after hearing all this, said to him, 'Happy the man
who shall sit at the feast in the kingdom of God!' Jesus answered, 'A man
was giving and big dinner party and had sent out many invitations. At dinner-
time he sent his servant with a message for his guests, "Please come, every-
thing is now ready." They began one and all to excuse themselves. The first
said, "I have bought a piece of land, and I must go look over it; please
accept my apologies." The second said, I have bought five yoke of oxen,
and I am on my way to try them out; please accept my apologies." The
next said, "I have just got married and for that reason I cannot come."
When the servant came back he reported this to his master. The master of the
house was angry and said to him, "Go out quickly into the streets and alleys
of the town, and bring me in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the
lame." The servant said, "Sir, your orders have been carried out and there
is still room." The master replied, "Go out on the highways and along
the hedgerows and make them come in; I want my house to be full. I tell
you that not one of those who were invited shall taste my banquet." '
Once, when great crowds were accompanying him, he turned to them
and said: 'If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother,
wife and children, brothers and sisters, even his own life, he cannot be a
disciple of mine. No one who does not carry his cross and come with me
can be a disciple of mine. Would any of you think of building a tower with-
out first sitting down and calculating the cost, to see whether he could
afford to finish it? Otherwise, if he has laid its foundation and then is not
able to complete it, all the onlookers will laugh at him. "There is the man",
they will say, "who started to build but could not finish." Or what king
will march to battle against another king, without first sitting down to con-
sider whether with ten thousand men he can face an enemy coming to meet
him with twenty thousand? If he cannot, then, long before the enemy
approaches, he sends envoys, and asks for terms. So also none of you can
be a disciple of mine without parting with all his possessions.
'Salt is a good thing; but if salt itself becomes tasteless, what will you
use to season it? It is useless either on land or on the dung-heap: it can
only be thrown away. If you have ears to hear, then hear.'
15 Another time, the tax-gatherers and other bad characters were all
crowding in to listen to him; and the Pharisees and the doctors of the law
began grumbling amongst themselves: 'This fellow', they said, 'welcomes
sinners and eats with them.' He answered them with this parable: 'If one
of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them, does he not leave the
ninety-nine in the open pasture and go after the missing one until he has
found it? How delighted he is then! He lifts it on to his shoulders, and home
he goes to call his friends and neighbours together. "Rejoice with me!"
he cries. "I have found my lost sheep." In the same way, I tell you, there
will be greater joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-
nine righteous people who do not need to repent.
'Or again, if a woman has ten silver pieces and loses one of them, does
she not light the lamp, sweep out the house, and look in every corner till
she has found it? And when she has she calls her friends and neighbours
together, and says, "Rejoice with me! I have found the piece that I lost."
In the same way, I tell you, there is joy among the angels of God over one
sinner who repents.
Again he said: 'There was once a man who had two sons; and the
younger said to the father, "Father, give me my share of the property." So
he divided his estate between them. A few days later the younger son
turned the whole of his share into cash and left home for a distant country,
where he squandered it in reckless living. He had spent it all, when a severe
famine fell upon that country and he began to feel the pinch. So he went
and attached himself to one of the local landowners, who sent him on to his
farm to mind the pigs. He would have been glad to fill his belly with the
pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything. Then he
came to his senses and said, "How many of my father's paid servants have
more food than they can eat, and here am I, starving to death! I will set
off and go to my father, and say to him, 'Father, I have sinned, against
God and against you; I am no longer fit to be called your son; treat me as
one of your paid servants.' " So he set out for his father's house. But while
he was still a long way off his father saw him, and his heart went out to him.
He ran to meet him, flung his arms round him, and kissed him. The son
said, "Father, I have sinned, against God and against you; I am no longer
fit to be called your son." But the father said to his servants, "Quick!
fetch a robe, my best one, and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and
shoes on his feet. Bring the fatted calf and kill it , and let us have a feast to
celebrate the day. For this son of mine was dead and has come back to life;
he was lost and is found." And the festivities began.
'Now the elder son was out on the farm; and on his way back, as he
approached the house, he heard music and dancing. He called one of the
servants and asked what it meant. The servant told him, "Your brother
has come home, and your father has killed the fatted calf because he has
him back safe and sound." But he was angry and refused to go in. His
father came out and pleaded with him; but he retorted, "You know how
I have slaved for you all these years; I never once disobeyed your orders;
and you never gave me so much as a kid, for a feast with my friends. But
with his women, you kill the fatted calf for him." "My boy," said the father,
"you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. How could we
help celebrate this happy day? Your brother here was dead and has come
back to life, was lost and is found." '
16 He said to his disciples, 'There was a rich man who had a steward, and he
received complaints that this man was squandering the property. So he
sent for him, and said, "What is this that I hear? Produce your accounts,
for you cannot be manager here any longer." The steward said to himself,
"What am I to do now that my employer is dismissing me? I am not strong
enough to dig, and too proud to beg. I know what I must do, to make sure
that, when I have leave, there will be people to give me house and home."
He summoned his master's debtors one by one. To the first he said, "How
much do you owe my master?" He replied, "A thousand gallons of olive
oil." He said, "Here is your account. Sit down and make it five hundred;
and be quick about it." Then he said to another, "And you, how much do
you owe?" He said, "A thousand bushels of wheat", and was told, "Take
your account and make it eight hundred." And the master applauded the
dishonest steward for acting so astutely. For the worldly are more astute
than the other-worldly in dealing with their own kind.
'So I say to you, use your worldly wealth to win friends for yourselves,
so that when money is a thing of the past you may be received into an
eternal home.
'The man who can be trusted in little things can be trusted also in great,
and the man who is dishonest in little things is dishonest also in great
things. If, then, you have not proved trustworthy with the wealth of this
world, who will trust you with the wealth that is real? And if you have
proved untrustworthy with what belongs to another, who will give you
what is your own?
'No servant can be the slave of two masters; for either he will hate the
first and love the second, or he will be devoted to the first and think nothing
of the second. You cannot serve God and Money.'
The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and scoffed at him. He
said to them, 'You are the people who impress your fellow-men with your
righteousness; but God sees through you; for what sets itself up to be
admired by men is detestable in the sight of God.
'Until John, it was the Law and the prophets: since then, there is the
good news of the kingdom of God, and everyone forces his way in.
'It is easier for heaven and earth to come to an end than for one dot or
stroke of the Law to lose its force.
'A man who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery,
and anyone who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits
adultery.
'There was once a rich man, who dressed in purple and the finest linen,
and feasted in great magnificence every day. At his gate, covered with sores,
lay a poor man named Lazarus, who would have been glad to satisfy his
hunger with the scraps from the rich man's table. Even the dogs used to
come and lick his sores. One day the poor man died and was carried away
by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried,
and in Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up; and there, far away,
was Abraham with Lazarus close beside him. "Abraham, my father," he
called out, "take pity on me! Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in
water, to cool my tongue, for I am in agony in this fire." But Abraham said,
"Remember , my child, that all the good things fell to you while you were
alive, and all the bad to Lazarus; now he has his consideration here and it is
you who are in agony. But that is not all: there is a great chasm fixed be-
tween us; no one from our side who wants to reach you can cross it, and
none may pass from your side to us." "Then, father," he replied, "will
you send him to my father's house, where I have five brothers, to warn
them, so that they too may not come to this place of torment?" But Abraham
said, "They have Moses and the prophets; let them listen to them." "No,
father Abraham," he replied, "but if someone from the dead visits them,
they will repent." Abraham answered, "If they do not listen to Moses and
the prophets they will pay no heed even if someone should rise from the
dead." '
17 He said to his disciples, 'Causes of stumbling are bound to arise;
but woe betide the man through whom they come. It would be better for
him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone round his neck than to cause
one of these little ones to stumble. Keep watch on yourselves.
'If your brother wrongs you, reprove him; and if he repents, forgive
him. Even if he wrongs you seven times in a day and comes back to you
seven times saying, "I am sorry", you are to forgive him.'
The apostles said to the Lord, 'Increase our faith'; and the Lord
replied, 'If you had faith no bigger than even a mustard-seed, you could
say to this mulberry tree, "Be rooted up and replanted in the sea"; and it
would at once obey you.
'Suppose one of you has a servant ploughing or minding sheep. When
he comes back from the fields, will the master say, "Come along at once
and sit down"? Will he not rather say, "Prepare my supper, fasten your
belt, and then wait on me while I have my meal; you can have yours after-
wards"? Is he grateful to the servant for carrying out his orders? So with
you: when you have carried out all your orders, you should say, "We are
servants and deserve no credit; we have only done our duty." '
In the course of his journey to Jerusalem he was travelling through the
borderlands of Samaria and Galilee. As he was entering a village he was
met by ten men with leprosy. They stood some way off and called out to
him, 'Jesus, Master, take pity on us.' When he saw them he said, 'Go and
show yourselves to the priests'; and while they were on their way, they
were made clean. One of them, finding himself cured, turned back praising
God aloud. He threw himself down at Jesus's feet and thanked him. And
he was a Samaritan. At this Jesus said: 'Were not all ten cleansed? The
other nine, where are they? Could none be found to come back and give
praise to God except this foreigner?' And he said to the man, 'Stand up
and go your own way; your faith has cured you.'
The New English Bible (with Apocrypha)
Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, 1970
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