Luke 12:22–48

Trust in God

²²Then Jesus said to the disciples, “And so I tell you not to worry about the food you need to stay alive or about the clothes you need for your body. ²³Life is much more important than food, and the body much more important than clothes. ²⁴Look at the crows: they don’t sow seeds or gather a harvest; they don’t have store-rooms or barns; God feeds them! You are worth so much more than birds! ²⁵Can any of you live a bit longer^q by worrying about it? ²⁶If you can’t manage even such a small thing, why worry about the other things? ^27*Look how the wild flowers grow: they don’t work or make clothes for themselves. But I tell you that not even King Solomon with all his wealth had clothes as beautiful as one of these flowers. ²⁸It is God who clothes the wild grass—grass that is here today and gone tomorrow, burnt up in the oven. Won’t he be all the more sure to clothe you? How little faith you have!

²⁹“So don’t be all upset, always concerned about what you will eat and drink. ³⁰(For the pagans of this world are always concerned about all these things.) Your Father knows that you need these things. ³¹Instead, be concerned with his Kingdom, and he will provide you with these things.

Riches in Heaven

³²“Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the Kingdom. ³³Sell all your belongings and give the money to the poor. Provide for yourselves purses that don’t wear out, and save your riches in heaven, where they will never decrease, because no thief can get to them, and no moth can destroy them. ³⁴For your heart will always be where your riches are.

Watchful Servants

^35*“Be ready for whatever comes, dressed for action and with your lamps lit, ^36*like servants who are waiting for their master to come back from a wedding feast. When he comes and knocks, they will open the door for him at once. ³⁷How happy are those servants whose master finds them awake and ready when he returns! I tell you, he will take off his coat, ask them to sit down, and will wait on them. ³⁸How happy they are if he finds them ready, even if he should come at midnight or even later! ^39*And you can be sure that if the owner of a house knew the time when the thief would come, he would not let the thief break into his house. ^40*And you, too, must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you are not expecting him.”

The Faithful or the Unfaithful Servant

⁴¹Peter said, “Lord, does this parable apply to us, or do you mean it for everyone?”

⁴²The Lord answered, “Who, then, is the faithful and wise servant? He is the one that his master will put in charge, to run the household and give the other servants their share of the food at the proper time. ⁴³How happy that servant is if his master finds him doing this when he comes home! ⁴⁴Indeed, I tell you, the master will put that servant in charge of all his property. ⁴⁵But if that servant says to himself that his master is taking a long time to come back and if he begins to beat the other servants, both the men and the women, and eats and drinks and gets drunk, ⁴⁶then the master will come back one day when the servant does not expect him and at a time he does not know. The master will cut him in pieces^r and make him share the fate of the disobedient.

⁴⁷“The servant who knows what his master wants him to do, but does not get himself ready and do it, will be punished with a heavy whipping. ⁴⁸But the servant who does not know what his master wants, and yet does something for which he deserves a whipping, will be punished with a light whipping. Much is required from the person to whom much is given; much more is required from the person to whom much more is given.