Luke 9:46-62 : Easy-to-Read Version
The Most Important Person
46Jesus' followers began to have an argument about which one of them was the greatest (most important). 47Jesus knew what they were thinking. So Jesus took a little child and stood the child beside him. 48Then Jesus said to the followers, "If a person accepts a little child like this in my name, then that person accepts me. And when a person accepts me, that person accepts the One (God) that sent me. The person among you that is the most humble--that person is a great (important) person."
Any Person Not Against You Is for You
49John answered, "Master, we saw a person using your name to force demons* out of people. We told him to stop because he does not belong to our group." 50Jesus said to John, "Don't stop him. If a person is not against you, then he is for you."
A Samaritan Town
51The time was coming near when Jesus would leave and go back to heaven. He decided to go to Jerusalem. 52Jesus sent some men ahead of him. The men went into a town in Samaria to make everything ready for Jesus. 53But the people there would not welcome Jesus because he was going toward Jerusalem. 54James and John, the followers of Jesus, saw this. They said, "Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven and destroy those people?"* 55But Jesus turned and scolded them.* 56Then Jesus and his followers went to another town.
Following Jesus
57They were all traveling along the road. Someone said to Jesus, "I will follow you any place you go." 58Jesus answered, "The foxes have holes to live in. The birds have nests to live in. But the Son of Man* has no place where he can rest his head." 59Jesus said to another man, "Follow me!" But the man said, "Lord, let me go and bury my father first." 60But Jesus said to him, "Let the people that are dead bury their own dead! You must go and tell about the kingdom of God." 61Another man said, "I will follow you, Lord, but first let me go and say good-bye to my family." 62Jesus said, "If any person begins to plow a field, but looks back, he is not prepared for the kingdom of God."
demon(s) Demons are evil spirits from the devil. Verse 54 Some Greek copies add: "... like Elijah did?" Verse 55 Some Greek copies add: "And Jesus said, 'You don't know what kind of spirit you belong to. 56The Son of Man did not come to destroy the souls of men but to save them.'" Son of Man A name Jesus used for himself. In Dan. 7:13-14, this is the name for the Messiah, the one God chose to save his people.