About tempting people to sin and forgiving other people

1Then Jesus said to his disciples, “People will tempt you to do wrong, and you can't stop them. Then if you sin it will be very bad for you later.

2But if you tempt other people to sin and then they sin, then it will be worse for you later.

3So watch yourselves carefully so that you don't tempt others to sin.” Jesus went on to say, “If your brother does something wrong to you, tell him about it. If he takes notice of you and changes his mind, forgive him.

4And if he keeps on and on doing something wrong to you, keep on forgiving him. Maybe he will keep saying to you, ‘Please forgive me.’ Maybe he will say that to you seven times on the same day. Then you must forgive him every time, even if it is seven times.”

About us trusting in Jesus and working for him

5Jesus' apostles said to him, “Lord, we want to trust you more. Help us not to doubt you, but trust in you all the time.”

6The Lord Jesus answered, “You don't trust in me yet, do you! If you trusted in me even a little bit, you could say to this tree, ‘Pull yourself up and go over to the sea. Put your roots down there so that you are standing in the sea.’ And the tree would obey you.”

7Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you send your servant to work outside. Maybe he will dig the ground or look after the sheep. Then in the afternoon he will come back. You won't say to your servant, ‘Come on quickly, sit down while I get you your food.’

8Of course not! You are his master. So you will say, ‘Cook me my food. Then put on good clothes and bring the food you have cooked here to me, so I can eat and drink. Then afterwards you can have something to eat.’

9“You don't thank your servant for working for you and obeying you. No! You are his master.

10So you should think to yourselves, ‘We aren't important, we are just servants and that is all.’ And when you have finished everything God has told you to do, then you should say to yourselves, ‘That is nothing, we have only done our work and nothing more.’”

About Jesus healing ten men

11Jesus and his disciples kept on going along the road to Jerusalem. As they went along, Galilee was on the left and Samaria was on the right. They kept on and on,

12until they arrived at a village. Just before they went into the village, ten men met Jesus. They stood a little way away, because they were all covered in sores.

13They called out, “Jesus! Master! Have pity on us!”

14Jesus looked at them and called out, “Go to the synagogue so that the priests can see you! Let them see your skin!” Then the ten men started going to the synagogue. And while they walked along the road their skin became clean.

15One of the men saw that he was better and came straight back to Jesus. He was a Samaritan. He praised God in a loud voice, saying, “The Lord God is good!” He bowed down with his face to the ground at Jesus' feet and said, “Thank you for making my skin clean.”

17Jesus said, “I made ten men clean. Where are the other nine?

18Why is this stranger the only one who came back and thanked God?”

19And Jesus said to the man, “Get up and go! You didn't doubt me, you knew that I can make people's skin clean, and that is why you have been healed.”

About God becoming ruler

20Some Pharisees asked Jesus, “When will God rule over us?” Jesus answered, “When God rules, you won't see him with your eyes.

21And you won't say, ‘Look! Here he is!’ or ‘There he is!’ I tell you, God will rule when you obey him with all your heart and mind.”

22Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Some other time you will want to see me, the one who was born in this world, when I come back here. You will want to see me even for a little while, just one day, but you won't be able to.

23“Some people will say to you, ‘Look! He is over there!’ and others will say, ‘Look! Here he is!’ but you mustn't listen to them or follow them.

24Don't listen to them because when I come back everyone will see me. I will come like the lightning when it flashes and you see it light up the whole sky. Everyone will see me, the one who was born in this world. They will see me with their own eyes.

25But first I must suffer many things, because the people of this day will reject me.”

26Jesus went on, “Long ago when Noah was alive, the people only thought of themselves all the time. They kept on eating and drinking, and men and women married. They kept on doing those things all the time. “Noah finished building the boat called an ark, and he and his family went inside. Then the rain came. And all those people died. Only Noah and his family stayed alive. It will be just like that, people will be doing the same things, when I, who was born in this world, come back again. They will only be thinking of themselves.

28“And also long ago, when Lot was alive, the people of Sodom only thought of themselves. Everybody kept on eating and drinking. They kept on buying and selling and growing food and building houses. They kept on doing all those things all the time.

29On the same day that Lot left Sodom, God sent fire from heaven, and it burnt everything and all those people of Sodom died. They all died except Lot.

30It will be just like that, people will be doing the same things, when I, the one who was born in this world, come back and appear again. They will only be thinking of themselves.

31“At that time, if a man is on the roof of his house, he mustn't go down into his house to get his belongings. And if a man is working outside, he mustn't turn around and go home.

32You know what happened to Lot's wife when she looked back. So think about her!

33“If a person loves himself and wants everything in this world but he doesn't want God, he will die forever. But if he doesn't refuse to die and he follows me all the way, he will live forever.

34“I tell you,” Jesus continued, “that night, if two people are sleeping in the same bed, the angels will choose one of them and leave the other.

35If two women are working and helping each other to crush seeds, the angels will choose one of them and leave the other one behind.”

37The disciples said, “Lord, where will that be?” Jesus answered, “Wherever dead bodies are lying on the ground, you will see the whistling kites and other birds like that coming together.”