Don't Cause Sin and Be Ready to Forgive

17 ¹Jesus said to his followers, "Things will surely happen that will make people sin. But it will be very bad for the person that makes this happen. ²It will be very bad for a person if he makes one of these weak persons sin. It would be better for him to have a millstone* tied around his neck and be drowned in the sea. ³So be careful! "If your brother sins, tell him he is wrong. If he is sorry [and stops sinning], forgive him. ⁴If your brother does something wrong to you seven times in one day, but he says that he is sorry each time, then you should forgive him."

How Big Is Your Faith?

⁵The apostles* said to the Lord (Jesus), "Give us more faith!" ⁶The Lord said, "If your faith is as big as a mustard seed,* then you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Dig yourself up and plant yourself in the ocean!' And the tree will obey you.

Be Good Servants

⁷"Suppose one of you has a servant that has been working in the field. The servant has been plowing the ground or caring for the sheep. When he comes in from work, what would you say to him? Would you say, 'Come in and sit down to eat'? ⁸No! You would say to your servant, 'Prepare something for me to eat. Then get dressed and serve me. When I finish eating and drinking, then you can eat.' ⁹The servant should not get any special thanks for doing his job. He is only doing what his master told him to do. ¹⁰It is the same with you. When you do all the things you are told to do, you should say, 'We are not worthy of any special thanks. We have only done the work we should do.'"

Be Thankful

¹¹Jesus was traveling to Jerusalem. He went from Galilee to Samaria. ¹²He came into a small town. Ten men met him there. These men did not come close to Jesus, because they all had leprosy.* ¹³But the men yelled to Jesus, "Jesus! Master! Please help us!" ¹⁴When Jesus saw the men, he said, "Go and show yourselves to the priests.*" While the ten men were going to the priests, they were healed. ¹⁵When one of the men saw that he was healed, he went back to Jesus. He praised God loudly. ¹⁶He bowed down at Jesus' feet. The man thanked Jesus. (This man was a Samaritan.*) ¹⁷Jesus said, "Ten men were healed; where are the other nine? ¹⁸This man is not even a Jew! Is he the only one that came back to give praise to God?" ¹⁹Then Jesus said to the man, "Stand up! You can go. You were healed because you believed."

millstone A large, round stone used for grinding grain. apostles The men Jesus chose to be his special helpers. mustard seed The very small seed of the mustard plant. leprosy A very bad skin disease. show yourselves to the priests The law of Moses said a priest must decide when a Jew with leprosy was well. Samaritan From Samaria. Samaritans were part Jewish, but some Jews did not accept them as pure Jews.