1 Jesus said to his followers, “You know, there will always be somebody that will try to make you go wrong and do bad things, but God will punish the person that does that. 2 If anyone gets a little kid to do something bad, God will properly punish that person. Suppose somebody gets a big stone and ties it to that person’s neck and throws them into the sea and drowns them, that will be bad for them, but not as bad as the trouble God will give them for getting that little kid to go wrong. 3 So be careful.”

Jesus talked to his followers. He said, “If one of my followers does something bad to you, tell them that it is wrong. If they change their way and say they are sorry, then let it go. Don’t think about any payback.* Matthew 18:15 4 Maybe they do that a lot, like 7 times in one day, and then each time they turn around and say, ‘I’m sorry.’ If they do that, you have to let it go every time.”

5 Jesus’s 12 special workers said to him, “Show us how to trust you properly.”

6 Jesus said, “You know that plant called mustard? It has very little seeds, but they grow into a big plant. Well, like that, if you trust me properly, even if it is just a little bit, you will get stronger and trust me more. Then you will do powerful things, like if you say to a tree, ‘Get up and throw yourself into the sea,’ then that tree will do what you tell it to do.”

7 And Jesus said to his followers, “You know about bosses and their workers. Maybe a work-man digs the ground to plant seeds one day, or maybe he looks after sheep. When the sun starts to go down, the work-man comes back to the house of his boss. That boss doesn’t say, ‘Sit down with me, and we will have dinner together.’ 8 No. The boss says, ‘Get my dinner ready for me. Then put on clean clothes and bring me my dinner. Then, after I finish eating, you can get yourself some food to eat.’ 9 That boss never says thank you to his work-man. You see, his work-man just did what the boss told him to do. He didn’t do anything more. 10 Well, it is the same with you. You are God’s workers. When you do what God tells you to do, just say to yourselves, ‘We are not special people. We are just workers, and we only did what our boss told us to do.’ ”

11 After that, Jesus kept going along the road to the city called Jerusalem, and he went from Galilee country into Samaria country. 12 He got to a town, and he started to go into it, but 10 men met him there. They all had a bad skin sickness, so they didn’t come close to Jesus, but they stood a little bit away from him and shouted to him. 13 They said, “Jesus, sir, please feel sorry for us, and help us.”

14 Jesus looked at them and said, “All right. Go to the leaders of our Jewish ceremonies and let them look at your skin.” So they started to go to those ceremony leaders, and while they were walking along, they all got better. Their skin was good again.* Leviticus 14:1-32

15 One of them looked at his skin and saw that it was good again, so he turned around and came back to Jesus. He kept talking really loud, saying, “God is really good and really great.” 16 And he got down on his knees in front of Jesus, to show him respect. And he said to Jesus, “Thank you, sir.” That man was not Jewish, like the 9 other men, and like Jesus and his followers, but he was from the Samaria nation.

17 Jesus asked the man, “I made 10 men better, right? Where are the other 9 men? 18 None of the Jewish men came back to say thank you to God. Only you came back, and you are not Jewish, you belong to another nation.” 19 Then Jesus said to the man, “You can stand up now and go home. You believed in me, so now you are better.”

20 At one time, some of the Pharisee mob, that were strong for the Jewish law, they asked Jesus, “When will God come and bring his people together, and be their boss here on earth?”

Jesus said, “You will not see anything different when God starts to bring his people together and be their boss. People can’t see it happen. 21 Nobody will say, ‘Look everyone, God is the boss here,’ or, ‘Look over there, and you will see that God is the boss there.’ No, it is not like that. You see, God is already getting people into his family, and he is their boss right now. His family is right here among you mob.”

22 Then Jesus said to his followers, “You know, I am God’s special man from heaven, and the time will come when you will really want to see me come back, but you will not see me at that time. 23 People will say to you, ‘Look, there he is, over there,’ or they might say, ‘Here he is, over here.’ But don’t take any notice of them. Don’t try to find me. 24 You see, I am God’s special man from heaven, and when I come back, I will be like lightning. You know how it flashes really bright, and everyone can see it. Well, I will be like that. Everyone will see me. 25 But first, before that happens, the people that are alive today will reckon they don’t want me to be their boss, and they will hurt me a lot. 26-27 Think about the story about Noah, the good man that lived a long time ago. He made a big boat. While he was doing that, the bad people there kept on living the way they always lived. They had parties, with plenty to eat and drink, and they promised wives to each other, and they got married. They kept on living like that right up until the time Noah and his family got into that big boat. Then a big flood of water came and finished up all those bad people. You see, I am God’s special man from heaven, and when I come back here, the people will be living the way they always live, just like they were when that big flood of water came.* Genesis 6:5-8; 7:6-24

28-29 And remember the story about Lot, the good man that lived in a town called Sodom. A lot of bad people lived there. Those people were living the way they always lived. They had parties, with plenty to eat and drink, and they bought things and sold things, and they planted seeds in their gardens, and they built houses for themselves. They kept on living like that right up until the day that Lot and his family ran out of that town. Then God sent fire and burning stones down from the sky, and it burned up all of those bad people, and finished them up.* Genesis 18:20—19:25 30 You know, before I come back from heaven, the people will be just like that. They will be living the same way as they always live.

Yes, I am God’s special man from heaven, and one day, I will show myself to everybody. 31 On that day, it will be like this. It will be hard for you. You will have to run away. If you are outside your house, don’t go in and pack up your things to take with you. No. Just run away. If you are out in the bush, don’t go back to your house to get anything. No. Just run away.* Matthew 24:17-18; Mark 13:15-16

32 Think again about that story about Lot and his family. Remember what his wife did. While they were running away, she stopped and looked back at that town, like she wanted to go back. But she died right there.* Genesis 19:26 33 You see, it’s like this. If you only want to look after your own life here on earth, you will lose it. You will not live with me for ever. But if you are ready to give up your life here, then you will find real life, and you will live with me for ever.* Matthew 10:39; 16:25; Mark 8:35; Luke 9:24; John 12:25

34 Listen, I’ll tell you more about the time when I will come back. God will take his people away from the other people. It will be like this. There will be 2 people asleep in one bed. God will take one of them and leave the other one. 35-36 There will be 2 women working together getting food ready to cook. God will take one of them and leave the other one.”

37 Jesus’s followers asked him, “Where will all this happen, sir?”

Jesus said, “You know what people say, ‘If you see a lot of crows in one place, you know that there is a dead body there at that place.’ Well, like that, when you see all those things happening, those things that I told you about, you will know that the world will soon finish up.”* Matthew 24:28