Sin, Forgiveness, Faith, and Service

1Jesus said to his disciples, “Stumbling blocks are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come! 2It would be better for him to have a millstone tied around his neck and be thrown into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. 3Watch yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him. If he repents, forgive him. 4Even if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times returns to you saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.”

5The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” 6So the Lord replied, “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this black mulberry tree, ‘Be pulled out by the roots and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.

7“Would any one of you say to your slave who comes in from the field after plowing or shepherding sheep, ‘Come at once and sit down for a meal’? 8Won’t the master instead say to him, ‘Get my dinner ready, and make yourself ready to serve me while I eat and drink. Then you may eat and drink’? 9He won’t thank the slave because he did what he was told, will he? 10So you too, when you have done everything you were commanded to do, should say, ‘We are slaves undeserving of special praise; we have only done what was our duty.’”

The Grateful Leper

11Now on the way to Jerusalem, Jesus was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. 12As he was entering a village, ten men with leprosy met him. They stood at a distance, 13raised their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” 14When he saw them he said, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went along, they were cleansed. 15Then one of them, when he saw he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. 16He fell with his face to the ground at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. (Now he was a Samaritan.) 17Then Jesus said, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? 18Was no one found to turn back and give praise to God except this foreigner?” 19Then he said to the man, “Get up and go your way. Your faith has made you well.”

The Coming of the Kingdom

20Now at one point the Pharisees asked Jesus when the kingdom of God was coming, so he answered, “The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed, 21nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is in your midst.”

The Coming of the Son of Man

22Then he said to the disciples, “The days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. 23Then people will say to you, ‘Look, there he is!’ or ‘Look, here he is!’ Do not go out or chase after them. 24For just like the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day. 25But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. 26Just as it was in the days of Noah, so too it will be in the days of the Son of Man. 27People were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were being given in marriage – right up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all. 28Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot, people were eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, building; 29but on the day Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. 30It will be the same on the day the Son of Man is revealed. 31On that day, anyone who is on the roof, with his goods in the house, must not come down to take them away, and likewise the person in the field must not turn back. 32Remember Lot’s wife! 33Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will preserve it. 34I tell you, in that night there will be two people in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. 35There will be two women grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left.”

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37Then the disciples said to him, “Where, Lord?” He replied to them, “Where the dead body is, there the vultures will gather.”