Luke 12:16-55

¹⁶Then He told a parable to them, saying: “The field of a certain rich man produced well.

¹⁷And he reasoned within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, because I have nowhere to gather my crops?’

¹⁸So he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and I will build bigger ones, and there I will gather all my crops and my goods.

¹⁹And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid away for many years; relax; eat, drink, and be merry.” ’

²⁰But God said to him, ‘You fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have prepared?’

²¹“So is he who accumulates treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”

²²Then He said to His disciples, “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; nor about the body, what you will wear.

²³Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing.

²⁴Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither storeroom nor barn; and yet God feeds them. How much more are you worth than birds?

²⁵And which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?

²⁶Therefore if you cannot do a very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?

²⁷Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you, not even Solomon in all his glory was arrayed like one of these.

²⁸But if God so clothes the grass, although it is in the field today, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, by how much rather will He clothe you, O you of little faith?

²⁹“And do not seek what you may eat or what you may drink, and do not be anxious.

³⁰For all these things the nations of the world seek after, but your Father knows that you need these things.

³¹But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you.

³²“Do not fear, little flock, because your Father is well pleased to give to you the kingdom.

³³Sell your possessions and give alms; make for yourselves money bags which do not grow old, an unfailing treasure in the heavens, where a thief does not come near, nor does a moth destroy.

³⁴For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

³⁵“Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning;

³⁶and you yourselves be like men who wait for their master, when he will return from the wedding celebration, so that when he comes and knocks, immediately they may open to him.

³⁷Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching. Assuredly I say to you, that he will gird himself and have them recline to eat, and he will come and serve them.

³⁸And if he comes in the second watch, or comes in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants.

³⁹But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what hour the thief was coming, he would have kept watch, and not allowed his house to be broken into.

⁴⁰Therefore you also be ready, for in an hour that you think not, the Son of Man comes.”

⁴¹Then Peter said to Him, “Lord, do You speak this parable only to us, or to all people?”

⁴²And the Lord said, “Who then is a faithful and wise manager, whom his master will make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of food in due season?

⁴³Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes.

⁴⁴Truly I say to you, that he will appoint him over all his possessions.

⁴⁵But if that servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming,’ and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and be drunk,

⁴⁶the master of that servant will come on a day which he does not expect, and at an hour which he does not know, and he will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.

⁴⁷And that servant who knew his master's will, and did not get ready or do according to his will, shall be beaten with many blows.

⁴⁸But he who did not know, yet did things worthy of blows, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been entrusted, of him they will ask much more.

⁴⁹“I have come to cast fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!

⁵⁰But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am till it is completed!

⁵¹Do you think that I came to give peace on earth? I tell you, not at all, but rather division.

⁵²For from now on five in one house will be divided: three against two, and two against three.

⁵³Father will be divided against a son and a son against father, a mother against a daughter and a daughter against a mother, a mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.”

⁵⁴Then He also said to the crowds, “Whenever you see a cloud rising from the west, immediately you say, ‘A rainstorm is coming’; and so it happens.

⁵⁵And whenever you see the south wind blow, you say, ‘There will be hot weather’; and it happens.