Study Desk

"But if that slave says in his heart, 'My master will be a long time in coming,' and begins to beat the slaves, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk;

"And that slave who knew his master's will and did not get ready or act in accord with his will, will receive many lashes,

And He began telling this parable: "A man had a fig tree which had been planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and did not find any.

And He laid His hands on her; and immediately she was made erect again and began glorifying God.

But the Lord answered him and said, "You hypocrites, does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the stall and lead him away to water him?

As He said this, all His opponents were being humiliated; and the entire crowd was rejoicing over all the glorious things being done by Him.

"It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and threw into his own garden; and it grew and became a tree, and THE BIRDS OF THE AIR NESTED IN ITS BRANCHES."

And He was passing through from one city and village to another, teaching, and proceeding on His way to Jerusalem.

and at the dinner hour he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, 'Come; for everything is ready now.'

"And the slave came back and reported this to his master. Then the head of the household became angry and said to his slave, 'Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here the poor and crippled and blind and lame.'

"If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.

"Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.

"So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.

"When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.

"And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!'

"The younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the share of the estate that falls to me.' So he divided his wealth between them.

"And not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey into a distant country, and there he squandered his estate with loose living.

"So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.

"And he would have gladly filled his stomach with the pods that the swine were eating, and no one was giving anything to him.

"But when he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men have more than enough bread, but I am dying here with hunger!