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.