Dual PanelInstructing the disciples
1HE said to his disciples, “There was a rich man who had a steward, and he received complaints that this man was squandering the property.
2So he sent for him, and said, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Produce your accounts, for you cannot be steward any longer.’
3The steward said to himself, ‘What am I to do now that my master is going to dismiss me from my post? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am too proud to beg.
4I know what I must do, to make sure that, when I am dismissed, there will be people who will take me into their homes.’
5He summoned his master's debtors one by one. To the first he said, ‘How much do you owe my master?’
6He replied, ‘A hundred jars of olive oil.’ He said, ‘Here is your account. Sit down and make it fifty, and be quick about it.’
7Then he said to another, ‘And you, how much do you owe?’ He said, ‘A hundred measures of wheat,’ and was told, ‘Here is your account; make it eighty.’
8And the master applauded the dishonest steward for acting so astutely. For in dealing with their own kind the children of this world are more astute than the children of light.
9“So I say to you, use your worldly wealth to win friends for yourselves, so that when money is a thing of the past you may be received into an eternal home.
10“Anyone who can be trusted in small matters can be trusted also in great; and anyone who is dishonest in small matters is dishonest also in great.
11If, then, you have not proved trustworthy with the wealth of this world, who will trust you with the wealth that is real?
12And if you have proved untrustworthy with what belongs to another, who will give you anything of your own?
13“No slave can serve two masters; for either he will hate the first and love the second, or he will be devoted to the first and despise the second. You cannot serve God and Money.”
14The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and scoffed at him.
15He said to them, “You are the people who impress others with your righteousness; but God sees through you; for what is considered admirable in human eyes is detestable in the sight of God.
16“The law and the prophets were until John: since then, the good news of the kingdom of God is proclaimed, and everyone forces a way in.
17“It is easier for heaven and earth to come to an end than for one letter of the law to lose its force.
18“A man who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery; and anyone who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery.
19“There was once a rich man, who used to dress in purple and the finest linen, and feasted sumptuously every day.
20At his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, who was covered with sores.
21He would have been glad to satisfy his hunger with the scraps from the rich man's table. Dogs used to come and lick his sores.
22One day the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried.
23In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and there, far away, was Abraham with Lazarus close beside him.
24‘Abraham, my father,’ he called out, ‘take pity on me! Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water, to cool my tongue, for I am in agony in this fire.’
25But Abraham said, ‘My child, remember that the good things fell to you in your lifetime, and the bad to Lazarus. Now he has his consolation here and it is you who are in agony.
26But that is not all: there is a great gulf fixed between us; no one can cross it from our side to reach you, and none may pass from your side to us.’
27‘Then, father,’ he replied, ‘will you send him to my father's house,
28where I have five brothers, to warn them, so that they may not come to this place of torment?’
29But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them listen to them.’
30‘No, father Abraham,’ he replied, ‘but if someone from the dead visits them, they will repent.’
31Abraham answered, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets they will pay no heed even if someone should rise from the dead.’”