Jesus told this story: "A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard. He came looking for some fruit on the tree, but he found none. So the man said to his servant who took care of his vineyard, 'I have been looking for fruit on this tree for three years, but I never find any. Cut it down! Why should it waste the ground? ' But the servant answered, 'Master, let the tree have one more year to produce fruit. Let me dig up the dirt around it and put on some fertilizer. Maybe the tree will produce fruit next year. If the tree still doesn't produce fruit, then you can cut it down.' "

   Then Jesus told another story: "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed. A man plants the seed in his field. That seed is the smallest of all seeds. But when it grows, it is one of the largest garden plants. It becomes a tree, big enough for the wild birds to come and make nests in its branches."

   Then Jesus said, "The kingdom of God is like a man who plants seed in the ground. The seed comes up and grows night and day. It doesn't matter whether the man is asleep or awake; the seed still grows. The man does not know how it grows. Without any help, the earth produces grain. First the plant grows, then the head, and then all the grain in the head. When the grain is ready, the man cuts it. This is the harvest time."

   [Peter, James, and John went with Jesus to a high mountain.] When they returned to the crowd again a man came and knelt in front of Jesus. "Lord, have pity on my son," he said, "for he is a lunatic and suffers terribly. He is always falling into the fire or into the water. I did bring him to Your disciples but they couldn't cure him."

   "You really are an unbelieving and difficult people," Jesus returned. "How long must I be with you, and how long must I put up with you? Bring him to Me!" Then Jesus spoke sternly to the evil spirit and it went out of the boy, who was cured from that moment. Afterwards the disciples approached Jesus privately and asked, "Why weren't we able to get rid of it?" He replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."

Taken from Mt. 17, The Phillips Translation and The New International Version.
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