Study Desk

Jesus said to his followers, "So I tell you, don't worry about the things you need to live—what you will eat or what you will wear.

If God makes what grows in the field so beautiful, what do you think he will do for you? That's just grass—one day it's alive, and the next day someone throws it into a fire. But God cares enough to make it beautiful. Surely he will do much more for you. Your faith is so small!

"So don't always think about what you will eat or what you will drink. Don't worry about it.

So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at a time when you don't expect him!"

"That servant knew what his master wanted him to do. But he did not make himself ready or try to do what his master wanted. So that servant will be punished very much!

He had a servant who took care of his garden. So he said to his servant, ‘I have been looking for fruit on this tree for three years, but I never find any. Cut it down! Why should it waste the ground?'

The synagogue leader was angry because Jesus healed on the Sabbath day. He said to the people, "There are six days for work. So come to be healed on one of those days. Don't come for healing on the Sabbath day."

But they would not answer his question. So he took the man and healed him. Then he sent the man away.

Then Jesus noticed that some of the guests were choosing the best places to sit. So he told this story:

"So when someone invites you, go sit in the seat that is not important. Then they will come to you and say, ‘Friend, move up here to this better place!' What an honor this will be for you in front of all the other guests.

But all the guests said they could not come. Each one made an excuse. The first one said, ‘I have just bought a field, so I must go look at it. Please excuse me.'

"So the servant returned and told his master what happened. The master was angry. He said, ‘Hurry! Go into the streets and alleys of the town. Bring me the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.'

The younger son said to his father, ‘Give me now the part of your property that I am supposed to receive someday.' So the father divided his wealth between his two sons.

So he went and got a job with one of the people who lived there. The man sent him into the fields to feed pigs.

He was so hungry that he wanted to eat the food the pigs were eating. But no one gave him anything.

So he left and went to his father. "While the son was still a long way off, his father saw him coming and felt sorry for him. So he ran to him and hugged and kissed him.

And bring our best calf and kill it so that we can celebrate with plenty to eat.

My son was dead, but now he is alive again! He was lost, but now he is found!' So they began to have a party.

So he called to one of the servant boys and asked, ‘What does all this mean?'

"The older son was angry and would not go in to the party. So his father went out and begged him to come in.