Journey Through God's Word

¹⁸Now it happened that as he was praying alone, the disciples were with him. And he asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?”

¹⁹And they answered, “John the Baptist. But others say, Elijah, and others, that one of the prophets of old has risen.”

²⁰Then he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” And Peter answered, “The Christ of God.”

²¹And he strictly charged and commanded them to tell this to no one,

²²saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”

²³And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

²⁴For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.

²⁵ For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?

²⁶For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

²⁷But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.”

²⁵Now great crowds accompanied him, 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, he cannot be my disciple.

²⁷ Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

²⁸For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?

²⁹Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him,

³⁰saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’

³¹Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?

³²And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace.

³³ So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

³⁴ “Salt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored?

³⁵It is of no use either for the soil or for the manure pile. It is thrown away. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

¹Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

²During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him,

³Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God,

⁴rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist.

⁵Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

⁶He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?”

⁷Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.”

⁸Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.”

⁹Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!”

¹⁰Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you.”

¹¹For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, “Not all of you are clean.”

¹²When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you?

¹³ You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am.

¹⁴If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.

¹⁵For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.

¹⁶Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.

¹⁷If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.