Journey Through God's Word

¹⁸Now it happened that as Jesus was praying privately, the disciples were with Him, and He asked them, "Who do the crowds say that I am?"

¹⁹They answered, "John the Baptist, and some say, Elijah; but others, that one of the ancient prophets has come back to life."

²⁰And He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter replied, "The Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed) of God!"

²¹But He strictly warned and admonished them not to tell this to anyone,

²²saying, "The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected [as the Messiah] by the elders and chief priests and scribes (Sanhedrin, Jewish High Court), and be put to death, and on the third day be raised up [from death to life]."

²³And He was saying to them all, "If anyone wishes to follow Me [as My disciple], he must deny himself [set aside selfish interests], and take up his cross daily [expressing a willingness to endure whatever may come] and follow Me [believing in Me, conforming to My example in living and, if need be, suffering or perhaps dying because of faith in Me].

²⁴For whoever wishes to save his life [in this world] will [eventually] lose it [through death], but whoever loses his life [in this world] for My sake, he is the one who will save it [from the consequences of sin and separation from God].

²⁵For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world [wealth, fame, success], and loses or forfeits himself?

²⁶For whoever is ashamed [here and now] of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory and the glory of the [heavenly] Father and of the holy angels.

²⁷But I tell you truthfully, there are some among those standing here who will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God."

²⁵Now large crowds were going along with Jesus; and He turned and said to them,

²⁶"If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life [in the sense of indifference to or relative disregard for them in comparison with his attitude toward God]—he cannot be My disciple.

²⁷Whoever does not carry his own cross [expressing a willingness to endure whatever may come] and follow after Me [believing in Me, conforming to My example in living and, if need be, suffering or perhaps dying because of faith in Me] cannot be My disciple.

²⁸For which one of you, when he wants to build a watchtower [for his guards], does not first sit down and calculate the cost, to see if he has enough to finish it?

²⁹Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is unable to finish [the building], all who see it will begin to ridicule him,

³⁰saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish!'

³¹Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one who is coming against him with twenty thousand?

³²Or else [if he feels he is not powerful enough], while the other [king] is still a far distance away, he sends an envoy and asks for terms of peace.

³³So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not [carefully consider the cost and then for My sake] give up all his own possessions.

³⁴"Therefore, salt is good; but if salt has become tasteless, with what will it be seasoned?

³⁵It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown away. He who has ears to hear, let him hear and heed My words."

¹Now before the Passover Feast, Jesus knew that His hour had come [and it was time] for Him to leave this world and return to the Father. Having [greatly] loved His own who were in the world, He loved them [and continuously loves them with His perfect love] to the end (eternally).

²It was during supper, when the devil had already put [the thought of] betraying Jesus into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son,

³that Jesus, knowing that the Father had put everything into His hands, and that He had come from God and was [now] returning to God,

⁴got up from supper, took off His [outer] robe, and taking a [servant's] towel, He tied it around His waist.

⁵Then He poured water into the basin and began washing the disciples' feet and wiping them with the towel which was tied around His waist.

⁶When He came to Simon Peter, he said to Him, "Lord, are You going to wash my feet?"

⁷Jesus replied to him, "You do not realize now what I am doing, but you will [fully] understand it later."

⁸Peter said to Him, "You will never wash my feet!" Jesus answered, "Unless I wash you, you have no part with Me [we can have nothing to do with each other]."

⁹Simon Peter said to Him, "Lord, [in that case, wash] not only my feet, but also my hands and my head!"

¹⁰Jesus said to him, "Anyone who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, and is completely clean. And you [My disciples] are clean, but not all of you."

¹¹For He knew who was going to betray Him; for that reason He said, "Not all of you are clean."

¹²So when He had washed their feet and put on His [outer] robe and reclined at the table again, He said to them, "Do you understand what I have done for you?

¹³You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you are right in doing so, for that is who I am.

¹⁴So if I, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you ought to wash one another's feet as well.

¹⁵For I gave you [this as] an example, so that you should do [in turn] as I did to you.

¹⁶I assure you and most solemnly say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him.

¹⁷If you know these things, you are blessed [happy and favored by God] if you put them into practice [and faithfully do them].