Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

The sign of Jonah

³³ “You must make up your mind between two possibilities,” Jesus went on. “Either the tree is good, in which case its fruit is good; or the tree is bad, in which case its fruit is bad. You can tell the tree by its fruits, after all.

³⁴ “You’re a family of snakes! How can you say good things when you’re bad inside? What the mouth speaks is what fills the heart. ³⁵ A good person produces good things from a good storeroom; an evil person produces evil things from an evil storeroom. ³⁶ Let me tell you this: on judgment day people will have to own up to every trivial word they say. ³⁷ Yes: you will be vindicated by your own words—and you will be condemned by your own words.”