Old/New Testament
Forgiveness, faith and obedience
17 Jesus said to his disciples, “There are bound to be things that trip people up; but woe betide the person who brings them about! 2 It would be better to have a millstone hung around your neck, and be thrown into the sea, than to trip up one of these little ones. 3 So watch out for yourselves.
“If your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he apologizes, forgive him. 4 Even if he sins against you seven times, and turns round seven times and says ‘sorry’ to you, you must forgive him.”
5 The apostles said to the master, “Give us greater faith!”
6 “If you had faith,” replied the master, “as a grain of mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.
7 “Supposing one of you has a slave ploughing or keeping sheep out in the field. When he comes in, what will you say? ‘Come here at once, and sit down for a meal?’ 8 No; you will be far more likely to say, ‘Get something ready for me to eat! Get properly dressed, and wait on me while I eat and drink! After that you can have something to eat and drink yourself.’ 9 Will you thank the slave because he did what you told him?
10 “That’s how it is with you. When you’ve done everything you’re told, say this: ‘We’re just ordinary slaves. All we’ve done is what we were supposed to do.’ ”
Ten men healed
11 As Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem, he passed along the borderlands between Samaria and Galilee. 12 As he was going into one particular village he was met by ten men with virulent skin diseases who stayed at some distance from him.
13 “Jesus, Master!” they called out loudly. “Have pity on us!”
14 When Jesus saw them he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were healed.
15 One of them, seeing that he had been healed, turned back and gave glory to God at the top of his voice. 16 He fell on his face in front of Jesus’ feet and thanked him. He was a Samaritan.
17 “There were ten of you healed, weren’t there?” responded Jesus. “Where are the nine? 18 Is it really the case that the only one who had the decency to give God the glory was this foreigner?
19 “Get up, and be on your way,” he said to him. “Your faith has saved you.”
Scripture quotations from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011, 2018, 2019.