Zechariah said to the angel, "But how am I to be sure of this? I am an old man myself, and my wife is advanced in years."

of the oath he swore to Abraham our father,

(This was the first census, and it took place when Quirinius was governor of Syria.)

When he was in one of their towns, there was a man full of leprosy who, on seeing Jesus, fell on his face and besought him, "If you only choose, sir, you can cleanse me."

So Jesus went with them. But he was not far from the house when the captain sent some friends to tell him, "Do not trouble yourself, sir, I am not fit to have you under my roof,

"A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the road and was trampled down, and the wild birds ate it up;

Be sure that if the householder had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have allowed his house to be broken into.

But the man replied, 'Leave it for this year, sir, till I dig round about it and put in manure.

A man said to him, "Is it only a few, sir, who are saved?" So he said to them,

When the servant announced, 'Your order has been carried out, sir, but there is still room,'

He also told the following parable to certain persons who were sure of their own goodness and looked down upon everybody else.

The first came up saying, 'Your five pounds has made other fifty, sir.'

Then the second came and said, 'Your five pounds has made twenty-five, sir.'

Then the next came and said, 'Here is your five pounds, sir; I kept it safe in a napkin,

'Sir,' they said, 'he has fifty already!'

But whenever you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then be sure her desolation is not far away.

Woe to women with child and to women who give suck in those days, for sore anguish will come upon the land and Wrath on this people;

So, whenever you see all this happen, be sure the Reign of God is at hand.

Then rising from prayer he went to the disciples, only to find them asleep from sheer sorrow.