New Testament in a Year

Sin and Forgiveness

17 Jesus said to his followers, “Things will surely happen that cause people to sin. But how terrible for the one who causes them to happen. ² It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a large stone around his neck than to cause one of these weak people to sin. ³ So be careful!

“If your brother sins, tell him he is wrong. But if he is sorry and stops sinning, forgive him. ⁴ If your brother sins against you seven times in one day, but he says that he is sorry each time, then forgive him.”

How Big Is Your Faith?

⁵ The apostles said to the Lord, “Give us more faith!”

⁶ The Lord said, “If your faith is as big as a mustard seed,^[a] then you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Dig yourself up and plant yourself in the sea!’ And the tree will obey you.

Be Good Servants

⁷ “Suppose one of you has a servant who has been plowing the ground or caring for the sheep. When the servant comes in from working in the field, would you say, ‘Come in and sit down to eat’? ⁸ No, you would say to your servant, ‘Prepare something for me to eat. Then get yourself ready and serve me. When I finish eating and drinking, then you can eat and drink.’ ⁹ The servant does not get any special thanks for doing what his master told him to do. ¹⁰ It is the same with you. When you do everything you are told to do, you should say, ‘We don’t deserve any special thanks. We have only done the work we should do.’”

Be Thankful

¹¹ Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. Traveling from Galilee to Samaria, ¹² he came into a small town. Ten men met him there. These men did not come close to Jesus, because they all had a harmful skin disease. ¹³ But they called to him, “Jesus! Master! Please help us!”

¹⁴ When Jesus saw the men, he said, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.”^[b]

While the ten men were going, they were healed. ¹⁵ When one of them saw that he was healed, he went back to Jesus. He praised God in a loud voice. ¹⁶ Then he bowed down at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. (This man was a Samaritan.) ¹⁷ Jesus asked, “Ten men were healed; where are the other nine? ¹⁸ Is this Samaritan the only one who came back to thank God?” ¹⁹ Then Jesus said to him, “Stand up and go on your way. You were healed because you believed.”