The Cost of Following Jesus^(A)

⁵⁷ As they were walking along the road,^(B) a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.”

⁵⁸ Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man^(C) has no place to lay his head.”

⁵⁹ He said to another man, “Follow me.”^(D)

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

⁶⁰ Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”^(E)

⁶¹ Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.”^(F)

⁶² Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”

³⁷ “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.^{(A) 38} Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me.^(B)

¹³ Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind^(A) and straining toward what is ahead, ¹⁴ I press on^(B) toward the goal to win the prize^(C) for which God has called^(D) me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

² Do not conform^(A) to the pattern of this world,^(B) but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.^(C) Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is^(D)—his good, pleasing^(E) and perfect will.