Scriptures: Luke 9:51-62; Matthew 8:18-22
The Cost of Following Jesus
Luke 9:51-62
It came to pass, when the days were near that he should be taken up, he intently set his face to go to Jerusalem, 52 and sent messengers before his face. They went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans, so as to prepare for him. 53 They didn’t receive him, because he was travelling with his face set towards Jerusalem.
54 When his disciples, James and John, saw this, they said, “Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from the sky, and destroy them, just as Elijah did?”
55 But he turned and rebuked them, “You don’t know of what kind of spirit you are. 56 For the Son of Man didn’t come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.” They went to another village.
As they went on the way, a certain man said to him, “I want to follow you wherever you go, Lord.”
58 Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”
59 He said to another, “Follow me!” But he said, “Lord, allow me first to go and bury my father.”
60 But Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead, but you go and announce God’s Kingdom.”
61 Another also said, “I want to follow you, Lord, but first allow me to say good-bye to those who are at my house.”
62 But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for God’s Kingdom.”
Matthew 8:18-22
Now when Jesus saw great multitudes around him, he gave the order to depart to the other side. 19 A scribe came, and said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”
20 Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”
21 Another of his disciples said to him, “Lord, allow me first to go and bury my father.”
22 But Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.”