Luke 9:46–62

Who Is the Greatest?

⁴⁶Then an argument started among them about who would be the greatest of them. ^u47But Jesus, knowing the thoughts of their hearts, ^vtook a little child and had him stand next to Him. ⁴⁸He told them, “Whoever welcomes ^wthis little child in My name welcomes Me. And whoever welcomes Me welcomes Him who sent Me. ^xFor whoever is least among you—this one is great.” ^y

In His Name

⁴⁹John responded, ^z“Master, we saw someone driving out demons in Your name, ^aand we tried to stop him because he does not follow us.” ^b

⁵⁰“Don’t stop him,” Jesus told him, “because whoever is not against you is for you.” ^cd

The Journey to Jerusalem

⁵¹When the days were coming to a close for Him to be taken up, ^efHe determined ^ghto journey to Jerusalem. ⁱ⁵²He sent messengers ahead of Him, ^jand on the way they entered a village of the Samaritans ^kto make preparations for Him. ⁵³But they did not welcome Him, because He determined to journey to Jerusalem. ^l54When the disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to call down fire from heaven to consume them?” ^mn

⁵⁵But He turned and rebuked them, ^o56and they went to another village.

Following Jesus

⁵⁷As they were traveling on the road someone said to Him, ^p“I will follow You wherever You go!”

⁵⁸Jesus told him, “Foxes have dens, and birds of the sky ^qhave nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay His head.” ⁵⁹Then He said to another, “Follow Me.”

“Lord,” he said, “first let me go bury my father.” ^r

⁶⁰But He told him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and spread the news of the kingdom of God.” ^s

⁶¹Another also said, “I will follow You, Lord, but first let me go and say good-bye to those at my house.” ^t

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