Chronological

16 Jesus also talked to his disciples. He said, `A rich man had a manager in charge of his things. People told the rich man that the manager was wasting his things.

² he called the manager and asked him, "What is this I hear about you? Tell me what you have done. You cannot be my manager any more."

³ `Then the manager thought to himself, "What will I do? My master is taking my work away from me. I am not strong enough to go out and dig. I am ashamed to beg.

⁴ I know what I will do. Then, when I lose my job, these people will take me into their own homes."

⁵ `So he called to him everyone who owed his master something. He asked the first man, "How much do you owe my master?"

⁶ He answered, "A hundred tins of oil." The manager said, "Take your paper. Sit down right now and write on it fifty."

⁷ Then he asked the next man, "How much do you owe?" He said, "A hundred bags of grain." The manager said, "Take your paper and write on it eighty."

⁸ `Then the master praised the manager who did wrong. He praised him because he did what was wise. The people of this world are wiser than the people who have the Light. They know how to get along with people like themselves.

⁹ `I tell you this. Money may be a wrong thing, but use it to make friends for yourselves. Then when your money is spent, they will be glad to see you come into that place where people live for ever.

¹⁰ `Anyone who can be trusted in a little matter can also be trusted in a big matter. Anyone who does wrong in a very little matter will do wrong also in a big matter.

¹¹ So if you could not be trusted to use money, which is bad, who will trust you to use true riches?

¹² If you could not be trusted with what belonged to another person, who will give you something for yourself?

¹³ No servant can work for two masters. He will hate one and love the other. Or he will obey one and despise the other. You cannot work for both God and money.'

¹⁴ The Pharisees loved money. They heard all these things. They made fun of him.

¹⁵ He said to them, `You try to make men think you are all right. But God knows your hearts. What men think is fine, God hates.

¹⁶ `The Law and the Prophets gave God's word until John came. Since then, the good news of God's kingdom has been told. And now everyone tries hard to get into the kingdom.

¹⁷ It would be easier to take away the sky and the earth than for the smallest part of the law to fall.'

¹⁸ `If a man sends away his wife and marries another woman, he commits adultery. And if the man marries a woman who has been sent away by her husband, he commits adultery.'

¹⁹ `There was a rich man who dressed and lived like a king every day.

²⁰ A poor man named Lazarus was put at his door. He had many sores on his body.

²¹ He wanted to eat the pieces of food that fell from the rich man's table. Dogs came and licked his sores.

²² The poor man died. Angels carried him to be with Abraham. `The rich man also died and was buried.

²³ He was in great pain in the world of dead people. He looked up and saw Abraham far away. With him was Lazarus.

²⁴ He called out, "Father Abraham, help me! Send Lazarus to dip his finger in some water and cool my tongue. This fire is very hot for me."

²⁵ `But Abraham said to him, "Son, remember this. You had a good time when you were living. Lazarus had a bad time when he was living. But now he is happy here and you are in pain.

²⁶ But that is not all. A wide hole is between you and us. No one can go from here to you if he wanted to. And no one can come from where you are to us."

²⁷ `The rich man said, "Then, father, I beg you, send Lazarus to my father's house.

²⁸ I have five brothers there. Tell him to talk to them so that they will not come to this place where there is pain."

²⁹ `But Abraham said, "They have Moses and the Prophets. They can listen to them."

³⁰ `He answered, "No, father Abraham! But if a man who had died went to them, they would stop their wrong ways."

³¹ `Abraham said, "If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, then they will not believe, even if a man were raised from death." '

17 Jesus said to his disciples, `People will make other people do wrong. But the person who makes another person do wrong will have trouble.

² A big stone should be tied around his neck and then he should be thrown into the sea. That would be better for him than to make one of these little children do wrong.

³ `Take care! If your brother does something bad, tell him what he has done. If he is sorry, then forgive him.

⁴ Maybe he will do wrong to you seven times in one day. But if he comes to you seven times in one day and says, "I am sorry for what I did," then you must forgive him.'

⁵ The apostles said to the Lord, `Help us to believe more.'

⁶ The Lord said, `If you believe as much as a little mustard seed, then you can say to this tree, "Come up by the roots and plant yourself in the sea." And it would obey you.'

⁷ `If your servant is working in the field or taking care of sheep, what will you say to him when he comes in from the field? Will you say, "Come now and sit down to eat"?

⁸ No, you will say, "Get my food ready. Get ready to wait on me. I will eat and drink. After that, then you may eat and drink."

⁹ Will you thank the servant for doing what you told him to do?

¹⁰ `It is the same with you. When you have done all you were told to do, you should say, "We are servants. We have not done a big thing. We have only done what we should do." '