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Jesus said to his disciples, "There was once a rich man who had a servant who managed his property. The rich man was told that the manager was wasting his master's money,
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so he called him in and said, 'What is this I hear about you? Turn in a complete account of your handling of my property, because you cannot be my manager any longer.'
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The servant said to himself, 'My master is going to dismiss me from my job. What shall I do? I am not strong enough to dig ditches, and I am ashamed to beg.
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Now I know what I will do! Then when my job is gone, I shall have friends who will welcome me in their homes.'
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So he called in all the people who were in debt to his master. He asked the first one, 'How much do you owe my master?'
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'One hundred barrels of olive oil,' he answered. 'Here is your account,' the manager told him; 'sit down and write fifty.'
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Then he asked another one, 'And you---how much do you owe?' 'A thousand bushels of wheat,' he answered. 'Here is your account,' the manager told him; 'write eight hundred.'
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As a result the master of this dishonest manager praised him for doing such a shrewd thing; because the people of this world are much more shrewd in handling their affairs than the people who belong to the light."
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And Jesus went on to say, "And so I tell you: make friends for yourselves with worldly wealth, so that when it gives out, you will be welcomed in the eternal home.
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Whoever is faithful in small matters will be faithful in large ones; whoever is dishonest in small matters will be dishonest in large ones.
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If, then, you have not been faithful in handling worldly wealth, how can you be trusted with true wealth?
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And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to someone else, who will give you what belongs to you?
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"No servant can be the slave of two masters; such a slave will hate one and love the other or will be loyal to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money."
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When the Pharisees heard all this, they made fun of Jesus, because they loved money.
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Jesus said to them, "You are the ones who make yourselves look right in other people's sight, but God knows your hearts. For the things that are considered of great value by people are worth nothing in God's sight.
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"The Law of Moses and the writings of the prophets were in effect up to the time of John the Baptist; since then the Good News about the Kingdom of God is being told, and everyone forces their way in.
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But it is easier for heaven and earth to disappear than for the smallest detail of the Law to be done away with.
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"Any man who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery; and the man who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
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"There was once a rich man who dressed in the most expensive clothes and lived in great luxury every day.
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There was also a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who used to be brought to the rich man's door,
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hoping to eat the bits of food that fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs would come and lick his sores.
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The poor man died and was carried by the angels to sit beside Abraham at the feast in heaven. The rich man died and was buried,
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and in Hades, where he was in great pain, he looked up and saw Abraham, far away, with Lazarus at his side.
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So he called out, 'Father Abraham! Take pity on me, and send Lazarus to dip his finger in some water and cool off my tongue, because I am in great pain in this fire!'
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But Abraham said, 'Remember, my son, that in your lifetime you were given all the good things, while Lazarus got all the bad things. But now he is enjoying himself here, while you are in pain.
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Besides all that, there is a deep pit lying between us, so that those who want to cross over from here to you cannot do so, nor can anyone cross over to us from where you are.'
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The rich man said, 'Then I beg you, father Abraham, send Lazarus to my father's house,
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where I have five brothers. Let him go and warn them so that they, at least, will not come to this place of pain.'
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Abraham said, 'Your brothers have Moses and the prophets to warn them; your brothers should listen to what they say.'
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The rich man answered, 'That is not enough, father Abraham! But if someone were to rise from death and go to them, then they would turn from their sins.'
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But Abraham said, 'If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone were to rise from death.' "
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Jesus said to his disciples, "Things that make people fall into sin are bound to happen, but how terrible for the one who makes them happen!
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It would be better for him if a large millstone were tied around his neck and he were thrown into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin.
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So watch what you do! "If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him.
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If he sins against you seven times in one day, and each time he comes to you saying, 'I repent,' you must forgive him."
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The apostles said to the Lord, "Make our faith greater."
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The Lord answered, "If you had faith as big as a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, 'Pull yourself up by the roots and plant yourself in the sea!' and it would obey you.
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"Suppose one of you has a servant who is plowing or looking after the sheep. When he comes in from the field, do you tell him to hurry along and eat his meal?
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Of course not! Instead, you say to him, 'Get my supper ready, then put on your apron and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may have your meal.'
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The servant does not deserve thanks for obeying orders, does he?
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It is the same with you; when you have done all you have been told to do, say, 'We are ordinary servants; we have only done our duty.' "
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As Jesus made his way to Jerusalem, he went along the border between Samaria and Galilee.
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He was going into a village when he was met by ten men suffering from a dreaded skin disease. They stood at a distance
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and shouted, "Jesus! Master! Have pity on us!"
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Jesus saw them and said to them, "Go and let the priests examine you." On the way they were made clean.
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When one of them saw that he was healed, he came back, praising God in a loud voice.
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He threw himself to the ground at Jesus' feet and thanked him. The man was a Samaritan.
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Jesus spoke up, "There were ten who were healed; where are the other nine?
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Why is this foreigner the only one who came back to give thanks to God?"
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And Jesus said to him, "Get up and go; your faith has made you well."
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Some Pharisees asked Jesus when the Kingdom of God would come. His answer was, "The Kingdom of God does not come in such a way as to be seen.
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No one will say, 'Look, here it is!' or, 'There it is!'; because the Kingdom of God is within you."
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Then he said to the disciples, "The time will come when you will wish you could see one of the days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it.
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There will be those who will say to you, 'Look, over there!' or, 'Look, over here!' But don't go out looking for it.
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As the lightning flashes across the sky and lights it up from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day.
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But first he must suffer much and be rejected by the people of this day.
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As it was in the time of Noah so shall it be in the days of the Son of Man.
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Everybody kept on eating and drinking, and men and women married, up to the very day Noah went into the boat and the flood came and killed them all.
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It will be as it was in the time of Lot. Everybody kept on eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building.
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On the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and killed them all.
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That is how it will be on the day the Son of Man is revealed.
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"On that day someone who is on the roof of a house must not go down into the house to get any belongings; in the same way anyone who is out in the field must not go back to the house.
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Those who try to save their own life will lose it; those who lose their life will save it.
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On that night, I tell you, there will be two people sleeping in the same bed: one will be taken away, the other will be left behind.
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Two women will be grinding meal together: one will be taken away, the other will be left behind."
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The disciples asked him, "Where, Lord?" Jesus answered, "Wherever there is a dead body, the vultures will gather."
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Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to teach them that they should always pray and never become discouraged.
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"In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected people.
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And there was a widow in that same town who kept coming to him and pleading for her rights, saying, 'Help me against my opponent!'
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For a long time the judge refused to act, but at last he said to himself, 'Even though I don't fear God or respect people,
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yet because of all the trouble this widow is giving me, I will see to it that she gets her rights. If I don't, she will keep on coming and finally wear me out!' "
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And the Lord continued, "Listen to what that corrupt judge said.
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Now, will God not judge in favor of his own people who cry to him day and night for help? Will he be slow to help them?
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I tell you, he will judge in their favor and do it quickly. But will the Son of Man find faith on earth when he comes?"
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Jesus also told this parable to people who were sure of their own goodness and despised everybody else.
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"Once there were two men who went up to the Temple to pray: one was a Pharisee, the other a tax collector.
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The Pharisee stood apart by himself and prayed, 'I thank you, God, that I am not greedy, dishonest, or an adulterer, like everybody else. I thank you that I am not like that tax collector over there.
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I fast two days a week, and I give you one tenth of all my income.'
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But the tax collector stood at a distance and would not even raise his face to heaven, but beat on his breast and said, 'God, have pity on me, a sinner!'
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I tell you," said Jesus, "the tax collector, and not the Pharisee, was in the right with God when he went home. For those who make themselves great will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be made great."
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Some people brought their babies to Jesus for him to place his hands on them. The disciples saw them and scolded them for doing so,
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but Jesus called the children to him and said, "Let the children come to me and do not stop them, because the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.
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Remember this! Whoever does not receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it."
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A Jewish leader asked Jesus, "Good Teacher, what must I do to receive eternal life?"
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"Why do you call me good?" Jesus asked him. "No one is good except God alone.
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You know the commandments: 'Do not commit adultery; do not commit murder; do not steal; do not accuse anyone falsely; respect your father and your mother.' "
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The man replied, "Ever since I was young, I have obeyed all these commandments."
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When Jesus heard this, he said to him, "There is still one more thing you need to do. Sell all you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have riches in heaven; then come and follow me."
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But when the man heard this, he became very sad, because he was very rich.
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Jesus saw that he was sad and said, "How hard it is for rich people to enter the Kingdom of God!
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It is much harder for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle."
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The people who heard him asked, "Who, then, can be saved?"
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Jesus answered, "What is humanly impossible is possible for God."
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Then Peter said, "Look! We have left our homes to follow you."
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"Yes," Jesus said to them, "and I assure you that anyone who leaves home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the Kingdom of God
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will receive much more in this present age and eternal life in the age to come."
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Jesus took the twelve disciples aside and said to them, "Listen! We are going to Jerusalem where everything the prophets wrote about the Son of Man will come true.
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He will be handed over to the Gentiles, who will make fun of him, insult him, and spit on him.
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They will whip him and kill him, but three days later he will rise to life."
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But the disciples did not understand any of these things; the meaning of the words was hidden from them, and they did not know what Jesus was talking about.
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As Jesus was coming near Jericho, there was a blind man sitting by the road, begging.
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When he heard the crowd passing by, he asked, "What is this?"
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"Jesus of Nazareth is passing by," they told him.
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He cried out, "Jesus! Son of David! Have mercy on me!"
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The people in front scolded him and told him to be quiet. But he shouted even more loudly, "Son of David! Have mercy on me!"
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So Jesus stopped and ordered the blind man to be brought to him. When he came near, Jesus asked him,
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"What do you want me to do for you?" "Sir," he answered, "I want to see again."
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Jesus said to him, "Then see! Your faith has made you well."
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At once he was able to see, and he followed Jesus, giving thanks to God. When the crowd saw it, they all praised God.
