Exacting Discipleship

^57 (A)As they were going along the road, ^(B)someone said to Him, “I will follow You wherever You go.” ⁵⁸ And Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the ^[a]air have ^[b]nests, but ^(C)the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” ⁵⁹ And He said to another, “^(D)Follow Me.” But he said, “Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.” ⁶⁰ But He said to him, “Allow the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and ^(E)proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God.” ⁶¹ Another also said, “I will follow You, Lord; but ^(F)first permit me to say good-bye to those at home.” ⁶² But Jesus said to him, “^(G)No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

Discipleship Tested

²⁵ Now ^[a]large crowds were going along with Him; and He turned and said to them, ²⁶ “^(A)If anyone comes to Me, and does not ^[b]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 Otherwise, 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 ^[c]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.

³⁴ “Therefore, salt is good; but ^(E)if even salt has become tasteless, with what will it be seasoned? ³⁵ It is useless either for the soil or for the manure pile; it is thrown out. ^(F)He who has ears to hear, ^[d]let him hear.”