²¹ I am ashamed to say that we were too weak for that!

However bold anyone might be (I am speaking in a foolish way), I am going to be bold too. ²² Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they Abraham’s seed? So am I. ²³ Are they ministers of Christ? (I am speaking in a crazy way.) I am even more. I’ve done more hard work, been in prisons more often, been whipped far more, and I’ve been close to death many times. ²⁴ Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. ²⁵ Three times I was beaten with rods. One time I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. I have spent a night and a day on the open sea. ²⁶ I have often been on journeys, in danger from rivers, in danger from robbers, in danger from my own people, in danger from Gentiles, in danger in the city, in danger in the wilderness, in danger on the sea, in danger among false brothers. ²⁷ I have worked hard and struggled. I’ve spent many sleepless nights. I’ve been hungry and thirsty. I’ve gone without food many times. I’ve been cold and lacked clothing.

²⁸ Besides those external matters, there is the daily pressure on me of my concern for all the churches. ²⁹ Who is weak without my being weak? Who falls into sin without my being distressed?

³⁰ If it is necessary that I boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.

Jesus Is Determined to Go to Jerusalem

⁵¹ When the days were approaching for him to be taken up, Jesus was determined^[a] to go to Jerusalem. ⁵² He sent messengers ahead of him. They went and entered a Samaritan village to make preparations for him. ⁵³ But the people did not welcome him, because he was determined to go to Jerusalem. ⁵⁴ When his disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to consume them?”^[b]

⁵⁵ But he turned and rebuked them. “You don’t know what kind of spirit is influencing you. ⁵⁶ For the Son of Man did not come to destroy people’s souls, but to save them.”^[c] Then they went to another village.

Follow Jesus

⁵⁷ As they went on the way, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.”

⁵⁸ Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”

⁵⁹ He said to another man, “Follow me!”

But he said, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”

⁶⁰ Jesus told him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”

⁶¹ Another man also said, “I will follow you, Lord, but first let me say good-bye to those at my home.”

⁶² Jesus told him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”