Not Peace, but a Sword

^34 (A)“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. ^(B)I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. ^35 (C)For I have come ^(D)to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. ^36 (E)And a person's enemies will be those of his own household. ^37 (F)Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. ³⁸ And ^(G)whoever does not take his cross and ^(H)follow me is not worthy of me. ^39 (I)Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

The Cost of Following Jesus

⁵⁷ As they were going ^(A)along the road, ^(B)someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” ⁵⁸ And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” ⁵⁹ To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” ⁶⁰ And Jesus^[a] said to him, “Leave ^(C)the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and ^(D)proclaim the kingdom of God.” ⁶¹ Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, ^(E)but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” ⁶² Jesus said to him, ^(F)“No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

The Cost of Discipleship

²⁵ Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, ^26 (A)“If anyone comes to me and ^(B)does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, ^(C)yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. ^27 (D)Whoever does not ^(E)bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. ²⁸ For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not ^(F)first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? ²⁹ Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, ³⁰ saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ ³¹ Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not ^(G)sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? ³² And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. ^33 (H)So therefore, any one of you who ^(I)does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

Take Up Your Cross and Follow Jesus

²⁴ Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him ^(A)deny himself and ^(B)take up his cross and follow me. ²⁵ For ^(C)whoever would save his life^[a] will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

Jesus Foretells His Death and Resurrection

^31 (A)And he began to teach them that ^(B)the Son of Man must ^(C)suffer many things and ^(D)be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and ^(E)after three days rise again. ³² And he said this ^(F)plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. ³³ But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, ^(G)“Get behind me, Satan! For you ^(H)are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

³⁴ And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him ^(I)deny himself and ^(J)take up his cross and follow me.

The Rich Young Man

^17 (A)And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and ^(B)knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to ^(C)inherit eternal life?” ¹⁸ And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. ¹⁹ You know the commandments: ^(D)‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’” ²⁰ And he said to him, “Teacher, ^(E)all these I have kept from my youth.” ²¹ And Jesus, ^(F)looking at him, ^(G)loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, ^(H)sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have ^(I)treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” ^22 (J)Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.