Luke 12:8–34

Confessing and Rejecting Christ

⁸“I assure you that for those who declare publicly that they belong to me, the Son of Man will do the same before the angels of God. ⁹But those who reject me publicly, the Son of Man will also reject before the angels of God.

^10*“Whoever says a word against the Son of Man can be forgiven; but those who say evil things against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.

^11*“When they bring you to be tried in the synagogues or before governors or rulers, do not be worried about how you will defend yourself or what you will say. ^12*For the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say.”

The Parable of the Rich Fool

¹³A man in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide with me the property our father left us.”

¹⁴Jesus answered him, “My friend, who gave me the right to judge or to divide the property between you two?” ¹⁵And he went on to say to them all, “Watch out and guard yourselves from every kind of greed; because a person’s true life is not made up of the things he owns, no matter how rich he may be.”

¹⁶Then Jesus told them this parable: “There was once a rich man who had land which bore good crops. ¹⁷He began to think to himself, ‘I haven’t anywhere to keep all my crops. What can I do? ¹⁸This is what I will do,’ he told himself; ‘I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, where I will store my corn and all my other goods. ¹⁹Then I will say to myself, Lucky man! You have all the good things you need for many years. Take life easy, eat, drink, and enjoy yourself!’ ²⁰But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night you will have to give up your life; then who will get all these things you have kept for yourself?’ ”

²¹And Jesus concluded, “This is how it is with those who pile up riches for themselves but are not rich in God’s sight.”

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.