⁵⁹ To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.”

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.

³³ But ^(A)seek first ^(B)the kingdom of God and his righteousness, ^(C)and all these things will be added to you.

²⁰ And he left the oxen and ran after Elijah and said, ^(A)“Let me kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you.” And he said to him, “Go back again, for what have I done to you?”

²¹ Another of the disciples said to him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” ²² And Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and leave ^(A)the dead to bury their own dead.”

² “Thus says the Lord of hosts: These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord.”

Jesus Calls Matthew

^9 (A)As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called ^(B)Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.

¹⁹ And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you ^(A)fishers of men.”^{[a] 20} Immediately they left their nets and followed him. ²¹ And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. ²² Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.