Take Up the Cross and Follow Him^(A)

^23 (B)Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross ^[a]daily, and follow Me. ^24 (C)For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. ^25 (D)For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost?

^26 (A)“If anyone comes to Me ^(B)and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, ^(C)yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.

The Whitened Harvest

²⁷ And at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, “What do You seek?” or, “Why are You talking with her?”

²⁸ The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, ²⁹ “Come, see a Man ^(A)who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” ³⁰ Then they went out of the city and came to Him.

³¹ In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.”

³² But He said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.”

³³ Therefore the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?”

³⁴ Jesus said to them, ^(B)“My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to ^(C)finish His work. ³⁵ Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes ^(D)the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, ^(E)for they are already white for harvest! ^36 (F)And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that ^(G)both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. ³⁷ For in this the saying is true: ^(H)‘One sows and another reaps.’ ³⁸ I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; ^(I)others have labored, and you have entered into their labors.”

Unity Through Humility

2 Therefore if there is any ^[a]consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any ^(A)affection and mercy, ^2 (B)fulfill my joy ^(C)by being like-minded, having the same love, being of ^(D)one accord, of one mind. ^3 (E)Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but ^(F)in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. ^4 (G)Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of ^(H)others.

The Humbled and Exalted Christ

^5 (I)Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, ⁶ who, ^(J)being in the form of God, did not consider it ^[b]robbery to be equal with God, ^7 (K)but ^[c]made Himself of no reputation, taking the form ^(L)of a bondservant, and ^(M)coming in the likeness of men. ⁸ And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and ^(N)became ^(O)obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. ^9 (P)Therefore God also ^(Q)has highly exalted Him and ^(R)given Him the name which is above every name, ^10 (S)that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, ¹¹ and ^(T)that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

¹⁵ and He died for all, ^(A)that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.

² has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the ^[a]worlds;

³⁴ Jesus said to them, ^(A)“My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to ^(B)finish His work.

^30 (A)I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because ^(B)I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.

³⁸ For I have come down from heaven, ^(A)not to do My own will, ^(B)but the will of Him who sent Me.