But the Lord said to him, &#8220;Now you Pharisees clean<n id="1" /> the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness.<n id="2" />

Blessed are those slaves<n id="1" /> whom their master finds alert<n id="2" /> when he returns! I tell you the truth,<n id="3" /> he will dress himself to serve,<n id="4" /> have them take their place at the table,<n id="5" /> and will come<n id="6" /> and wait on them!<n id="7" />

But if<n id="1" /> that<n id="2" /> slave should say to himself,<n id="3" /> &#8216;My master is delayed<n id="4" /> in returning,&#8217; and he begins to beat<n id="5" /> the other<n id="6" /> slaves, both men and women,<n id="7" /> and to eat, drink, and get drunk,

then the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not foresee, and will cut him in two,<n id="1" /> and assign him a place with the unfaithful.<n id="2" />

Then the Lord answered him,<n id="1" /> &#8220;You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from its stall,<n id="2" /> and lead it to water?<n id="3" />

Then<n id="1" /> the manager said to himself, &#8216;What should I do, since my master is taking my position<n id="2" /> away from me? I&#8217;m not strong enough to dig,<n id="3" /> and I&#8217;m too ashamed<n id="4" /> to beg.

The<n id="1" /> master commended the dishonest<n id="2" /> manager because he acted shrewdly.<n id="3" /> For the people<n id="4" /> of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their contemporaries<n id="5" /> than the people<n id="6" /> of light.

So<n id="1" /> the Lord replied,<n id="2" /> &#8220;If<n id="3" /> you had faith the size of<n id="4" /> a mustard seed, you could say to this black mulberry<n id="5" /> tree, &#8216;Be pulled out by the roots and planted in the sea,&#8217;<n id="6" /> and it would obey<n id="7" /> you.p>

Then<n id="1" /> the Lord turned and looked straight at Peter, and Peter remembered the word of the Lord,<n id="2" /> how he had said to him, &#8220;Before a rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.&#8221;

<p class="bodytext">When<n id="1" /> the angels left them and went back to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, &#8220;Let us go over to Bethlehem<n id="2" /> and see this thing that has taken place, that the Lord<n id="3" /> has made known to us.&#8221;