42. And the Lord replied, “Who, then, is the faithful and prudent steward whom the master will put in charge of his servants to distribute [the] food allowance at the proper time?
43. Blessed is that servant whom his master on arrival finds doing so.
44. Truly, I say to you, he will put him in charge of all his property.
45. But if that servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed in coming,’ and begins to beat the menservants and the maidservants, to eat and drink and get drunk,
46. then that servant’s master will come on an unexpected day and at an unknown hour and will punish him severely and assign him a place with the unfaithful.
47. That servant who knew his master’s will but did not make preparations nor act in accord with his will shall be beaten severely;
48. and the servant who was ignorant of his master’s will but acted in a way deserving of a severe beating shall be beaten only lightly. Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.
49. “I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing!
50. There is a baptism with which I must be baptized, and how great is my anguish until it is accomplished!
51. Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.
52. From now on a household of five will be divided, three against two and two against three;
53. a father will be divided against his son and a son against his father, a mother against her daughter and a daughter against her mother, a mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.”
54. He also said to the crowds, “When you see [a] cloud rising in the west you say immediately that it is going to rain—and so it does;
55. and when you notice that the wind is blowing from the south you say that it is going to be hot—and so it is.
56. You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky; why do you not know how to interpret the present time?