¹⁵ “He was made king, however, and returned home. Then he sent for the servants to whom he had given the money, in order to find out what they had gained with it.

The Nature of True Apostleship

4 This, then, is how you ought to regard us: as servants^(A) of Christ and as those entrusted^(B) with the mysteries^(C) God has revealed. ² Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. ³ I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. ⁴ My conscience^(D) is clear, but that does not make me innocent.^(E) It is the Lord who judges me.^{(F) 5} Therefore judge nothing^(G) before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes.^(H) He will bring to light^(I) what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. At that time each will receive their praise from God.^(J)

¹⁰ You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister^[a]? Or why do you treat them with contempt?^(A) For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat.^{(B) 11} It is written:

¹² So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.^(E)

² So he called him in and asked him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you cannot be manager any longer.’

³ “The manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do now? My master is taking away my job. I’m not strong enough to dig, and I’m ashamed to beg— ⁴ I know what I’ll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.’

⁵ “So he called in each one of his master’s debtors. He asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’

⁶ “‘Nine hundred gallons^[a] of olive oil,’ he replied.

“The manager told him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred and fifty.’

⁷ “Then he asked the second, ‘And how much do you owe?’

“‘A thousand bushels^[b] of wheat,’ he replied.

“He told him, ‘Take your bill and make it eight hundred.’

⁸ “The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world^(A) are more shrewd^(B) in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light.^{(C) 9} I tell you, use worldly wealth^(D) to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.^(E)

¹⁰ “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much,^(F) and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. ¹¹ So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth,^(G) who will trust you with true riches? ¹² And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?

¹³ “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”^(H)

⁴⁸ But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows.^(A) From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.

¹⁹ “After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them.^(A)

²³ “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like^(A) a king who wanted to settle accounts^(B) with his servants. ²⁴ As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold^[a] was brought to him. ²⁵ Since he was not able to pay,^(C) the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold^(D) to repay the debt.

²⁶ “At this the servant fell on his knees before him.^(E) ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ ²⁷ The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.

²⁸ “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins.^[b] He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.

²⁹ “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’

³⁰ “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. ³¹ When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.

³² “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. ³³ Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ ³⁴ In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.

³⁵ “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”^(F)