The Cost of Discipleship

²⁵ Now many crowds were going along with Him, and He turned and said to them, ²⁶ “^(A)If anyone comes to Me, and does not ^[a]hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. ²⁷ Whoever does not ^(B)carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. ²⁸ For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? ²⁹ Lest, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, ³⁰ saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ ³¹ Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and ^(C)consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand? ³² Or else, while the other is still far away, he sends ^[b]a delegation and asks for terms of peace. ³³ So then, none of you can be My disciple who ^(D)does not give up all his own possessions.