Luke 9:46–62

Who Is the Greatest?

^46aNow an argument ¹started among them as to which of them might be the greatest.

⁴⁷But Jesus, ^aknowing ¹what they were thinking in their heart, took a child and stood him by His side,

⁴⁸and said to them, “^aWhoever receives this child in My name receives Me, and whoever receives Me receives Him who sent Me; ^bfor the one who is least among all of you, this is the one who is great.”

^49aAnd John answered and said, “^bMaster, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name, and we tried to hinder him because he does not follow along with us.”

⁵⁰But Jesus said to him, “Do not hinder him, ^afor he who is not against you is ¹for you.”

⁵¹Now it happened that when the days for ^aHim to be taken up were soon to be fulfilled, He set His face ^bto go to Jerusalem;

⁵²and He sent messengers on ahead of Him, and they went and entered a village of the ^aSamaritans to ¹make arrangements for Him.

⁵³But they did not receive Him, ^abecause ¹He was journeying with His face toward Jerusalem.

⁵⁴And when His disciples ^aJames and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to ^bcommand fire to come down from heaven and consume them?”

⁵⁵But He turned and rebuked them, ¹and said, “You do not know what kind of spirit you are of,

⁵⁶for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.”] And they went on to another village.

The Cost of Following Jesus

^57aAnd as they were going along the road, ^bsomeone said to Him, “I will follow You wherever You go.”

⁵⁸And Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the ¹air have ²nests, but ^athe Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”

⁵⁹And He said to another, “^aFollow Me.” But he said, “Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.”

⁶⁰But He said to him, “Allow the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and ^aproclaim everywhere the kingdom of God.”

⁶¹Another also said, “I will follow You, Lord, but ^afirst permit me to say farewell to those at home.”

⁶²But Jesus said to him, “^aNo one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”