So ¹  he said to the worker who tended the vineyard, ‘For ²  three years ³  now, I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and each time I inspect it ⁴  I find none. Cut ⁵  it down! Why ⁶  should it continue to deplete ⁷  the soil?’

but he answered ¹  his father, ‘Look! These many years I have worked like a slave ²  for you, and I never disobeyed your commands. Yet ³  you never gave me even a goat ⁴  so that I could celebrate with my friends!

“When an unclean spirit ¹  goes out of a person, ²  it passes through waterless places ³  looking for rest but ⁴  not finding any. Then ⁵  it says, ‘I will return to the home I left.’ ⁶ 

Look, your house is forsaken! ¹  And I tell you, you will not see me until you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!’” ² 

The tax collector, however, stood ¹  far off and would not even look up ²  to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, be merciful ³  to me, sinner that I am!’ ⁴ 

As ¹  the crowds were increasing, Jesus ²  began to say, “This generation is a wicked generation; it looks for a sign, ³  but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. ⁴ 

But ¹  he said to them, “Go ²  and tell that fox, ³  ‘Look, I am casting out demons and performing healings today and tomorrow, and on the third day ⁴  I will complete my work. ⁵ 

“Which one ¹  of you, if he has a hundred ²  sheep and loses one of them, would not leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture ³  and go look for ⁴  the one that is lost until he finds it? ⁵ 

Then ¹  Jesus ²  took the twelve aside and said to them, “Look, we are going up to Jerusalem, ³  and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. ⁴ 

When Jesus noticed this, ¹  he said, “How hard ²  it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! ³ 

“This is what ¹  the Lord has done for me at the time ²  when he has been gracious to me, ³  to take away my disgrace ⁴  among people.” ⁵ 

At that moment, ¹  she came up to them ²  and began to give thanks to God and to speak ³  about the child ⁴  to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem. ⁵ 

Then a slave girl, ¹  seeing him as he sat in the firelight, stared at him and said, “This man was with him too!”

But Peter got up and ran to the tomb. ¹  He bent down ²  and saw only the strips of linen cloth; ³  then he went home, ⁴  wondering ⁵  what had happened. ⁶ 

But when these things ¹  begin to happen, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption ²  is drawing near.”

So too a Levite, when he came up to ¹  the place and saw him, ²  passed by on the other side.

The ¹  chief priests and the experts in the law ²  were trying to find some way ³  to execute ⁴  Jesus, ⁵  for they were afraid of the people. ⁶ 

Why ¹  do you see the speck ²  in your brother’s eye, but fail to see ³  the beam of wood ⁴  in your own?

The next morning ¹  Jesus ²  departed and went to a deserted place. Yet ³  the crowds were seeking him, and they came to him and tried to keep him from leaving them.

The people also stood there watching, but the rulers ridiculed ¹  him, saying, “He saved others. Let him save ²  himself if ³  he is the Christ ⁴  of God, his chosen one!”