Day 300 of 364

^15:1Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming close to him to hear him. ^15:2The Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, “This man welcomes sinners, and eats with them.” ^15:3He told them this parable: ^15:4“Which of you men, if you had one hundred sheep and lost one of them, wouldn’t leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that was lost, until he found it? ^15:5When he has found it, he carries it on his shoulders, rejoicing. ^15:6When 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!’ ^15:7I tell you that even so there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, than over ninety-nine righteous people who need no repentance. ^15:8“Or what woman, if she had ten drachma coins, if she lost one drachma coin, wouldn’t light a lamp, sweep the house, and seek diligently until she found it? ^15:9When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the drachma which I had lost!’ ^15:10Even so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner repenting.” ^15:11He said, “A certain man had two sons. ^15:12The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of your property.’ So he divided his livelihood between them. ^15:13Not many days after, the younger son gathered all of this together and traveled into a far country. There he wasted his property with riotous living. ^15:14When he had spent all of it, there arose a severe famine in that country, and he began to be in need. ^15:15He went and joined himself to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed pigs. ^15:16He wanted to fill his belly with the pods that the pigs ate, but no one gave him any. ^15:17But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough to spare, and I’m dying with hunger! ^15:18I will get up and go to my father, and will tell him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. ^15:19I am no more worthy to be called your son. Make me as one of your hired servants.”’ ^15:20“He arose and came to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was moved with compassion, and ran, fell on his neck, and kissed him. ^15:21The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ ^15:22“But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. ^15:23Bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let’s eat and celebrate; ^15:24for this, my son, was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found.’ Then they began to celebrate. ^15:25“Now his elder son was in the field. As he came near to the house, he heard music and dancing. ^15:26He called one of the servants to him and asked what was going on. ^15:27He said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and healthy.’ ^15:28But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and begged him. ^15:29But he answered his father, ‘Behold, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed a commandment of yours, but you never gave me a goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. ^15:30But when this your son came, who has devoured your living with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him.’ ^15:31“He said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. ^15:32But it was appropriate to celebrate and be glad, for this, your brother, was dead, and is alive again. He was lost, and is found.’” ^16:1He also said to his disciples, “There was a certain rich man who had a manager. An accusation was made to him that this man was wasting his possessions. ^16:2He called him, and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Give an accounting of your management, for you can no longer be manager.’ ^16:3“The manager said within himself, ‘What will I do, seeing that my lord is taking away the management position from me? I don’t have strength to dig. I am ashamed to beg. ^16:4I know what I will do, so that when I am removed from management, they may receive me into their houses.’ ^16:5Calling each one of his lord’s debtors to him, he said to the first, ‘How much do you owe to my lord?’ ^16:6He said, ‘A hundred batos of oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’ ^16:7Then he said to another, ‘How much do you owe?’ He said, ‘A hundred cors of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’ ^16:8“His lord commended the dishonest manager because he had done wisely, for the children of this world are, in their own generation, wiser than the children of the light. ^16:9I tell you, make for yourselves friends by means of unrighteous mammon, so that when you fail, they may receive you into the eternal tents. ^16:10He who is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much. He who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. ^16:11If therefore you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? ^16:12If you have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own? ^16:13No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will hold to one and despise the other. You aren’t able to serve God and Mammon.” ^16:14The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, also heard all these things, and they scoffed at him. ^16:15He said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts. For that which is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God. ^16:16“The law and the prophets were until John. From that time the Good News of God’s Kingdom is preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it. ^16:17But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tiny stroke of a pen in the law to fall. ^16:18“Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery. He who marries one who is divorced from a husband commits adultery. ^16:19“Now there was a certain rich man, and he was clothed in purple and fine linen, living in luxury every day. ^16:20A certain beggar, named Lazarus, was taken to his gate, full of sores, ^16:21and desiring to be fed with the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table. Yes, even the dogs came and licked his sores. ^16:22The beggar died, and he was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. ^16:23In Hades, he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far off, and Lazarus at his bosom. ^16:24He cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue! For I am in anguish in this flame.’ ^16:25“But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that you, in your lifetime, received your good things, and Lazarus, in the same way, bad things. But here he is now comforted and you are in anguish. ^16:26Besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, that those who want to pass from here to you are not able, and that no one may cross over from there to us.’ ^16:27“He said, ‘I ask you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house— ^16:28for I have five brothers—that he may testify to them, so they won’t also come into this place of torment.’ ^16:29“But Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets. Let them listen to them.’ ^16:30“He said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ ^16:31“He said to him, ‘If they don’t listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if one rises from the dead.’”