1   He said to his disciples, ‘Causes of stumbling are bound to arise; but woe betide the man through whom they come. 2   It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone round his neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble. 3   Keep watch on yourselves.

‘If your brother wrongs you, reprove him; and if he repents, forgive him. 4   Even if he wrongs you seven times in a day and comes back to you seven times saying, “I am sorry”, you are to forgive him.’

5    6   The apostles said to the Lord, ‘Increase our faith’; and the Lord replied, ‘If you had faith no bigger even than a mustard-seed, you could say to this mulberry-tree, “Be rooted up and replanted in the sea”; and it would at once obey you.

7   ‘Suppose one of you has a servant ploughing or minding sheep. When he comes back from the fields, will the master say, “Come along at once and sit down”? 8   Will he not rather say, “Prepare my supper, fasten your belt, and then wait on me while I have my meal; you can have yours afterwards”? 9   Is he grateful to the servant for

Journeys and encounters carrying out his orders? 10   So with you: when you have carried out all your orders, you should say, “We are servants and deserve no credit; we have only done our duty.”’

11   In the course of his journey to Jerusalem he was travelling through the borderlands of Samaria and Galilee. 12   As he was entering a village he was met by ten men with leprosy. They stood some way off and called out to him, ‘Jesus, Master, take pity on us.’ 13    14   When he saw them he said, ‘Go and show yourselves to the priests’; and while they were on their way, they were made clean. 15   One of them, finding himself cured, turned back praising God aloud. 16   He threw himself down at Jesus's feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. 17   At this Jesus said: ‘Were not all ten cleansed? The other nine, where are they? 18   Could none be found to come back and give praise to God except this foreigner?’ 19   And he said to the man, ‘Stand up and go on your way; your faith has cured you.’

20   The Pharisees asked him, ‘When will the kingdom of God come?’ He said, ‘You cannot tell by observation when the kingdom of God comes. 21   There will be no saying, “Look, here it is!” or “there it is!”; for in fact the kingdom of God is among you.’ ^note

22   He said to the disciples, ‘The time will come when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it. 23   They will say to you, “Look! There!” and “Look! Here!” Do not go running off in pursuit. 24   For like the lightning-flash that lights up the earth from end to end, will the Son of Man be when his day comes. 25   But first he must endure much suffering and be repudiated by this generation.

26   ‘As things were in Noah's days, so will they be in the days of the Son of Man. 27   They ate and drank and married, until the day that Noah went into the ark and the flood came and made an end of them all. 28   As things were in Lot's days, also: they ate and drank; they bought and sold; 29   they planted and built; but the day that Lot went out from Sodom, it rained fire and sulphur from the sky and made 30   an end of them all—it will be like that on the day when the Son of Man is revealed.

31   ‘On that day the man who is on the roof and his belongings in the house must not come down to pick them up; he, too, who is

Journeys and encounters in the fields must not go back. 32    33   Remember Lot's wife. Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it; and whoever loses it will save it, and live.

34   ‘I tell you, on that night there will be two men in one bed: one will be taken, the other left. 35   There will be two women together grinding corn: one will be taken, the other left.’ ^note 37   When they heard this they asked, ‘Where, Lord?’ He said, ‘Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.’

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