^aNow Jesus called together the twelve disciples and gave them the right to exercise power and authority over all the demons and to heal diseases. 2 Then He sent them out on a brief journey to ^apreach ¹the kingdom of God and to perform healing. Matt 10:5 3 And He said to them, “^aTake nothing for your journey that might encumber you—^bneither a walking stick, nor bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not even have two ¹tunics apiece. 4 Whatever house you enter, stay there until you leave that city to go to another. 5 And as for all those who do not welcome you, when you leave that city, ^ashake the dust off your feet breaking all ties with them as a testimony against them that they rejected My message.” 6 So they began going from village to village, ^apreaching the gospel and healing the sick everywhere.

7 ^aNow ^bHerod Antipas the tetrarch who governed a portion of Palestine including Galilee and Perea heard about all that was being done by Jesus, and he was thoroughly perplexed, because it was said by some that ^cJohn the Baptist whom he had ordered beheaded had been raised from the dead, Matt 14:1, 2 8 and by others that ^aElijah had appeared, and by others that one of the other prophets of old had been resurrected. 9 Herod said, “I personally had John beheaded. Who is this man about whom I hear such things?” And ^ahe kept trying to see Jesus.

10 ^aWhen the apostles returned, they told Him all that they had done. He ^btook them with Him and He privately withdrew across the Jordan to a city called ^cBethsaida. Matt 14:13-21; Mark 6:32-44; John 6:5-13 11 But when the crowds learned of it, they followed Him; and He welcomed them and He began talking to them about the kingdom of God, and healing those who needed to be healed.

12 Now the day was ending, and the twelve disciples came and said to Him, “Send the crowd away, so that they may go into the surrounding villages and countryside and find lodging, and get provisions; because here we are in an isolated place.” 13 But He said to them, “You give them something to eat.” They said, “We have no more than five loaves and two fish—unless perhaps we go and buy food for all these people.” 2+@Kin 4:42-44 14 (For there were ¹about 5,000 men.) And He said to His disciples, “Have them sit down to eat ^ain groups of about fifty each.” 15 They did so, and had them all sit down. 16 Then He took the five loaves and the two fish, and He looked up to heaven and gave thanks and blessed them, and broke them and kept giving them to the disciples to set before the crowd. 17 They all ate and were completely satisfied; and the broken pieces which they had left over were abundant and were picked up—twelve ^abaskets full.

18 ^aNow it happened that as Jesus was ^bpraying privately, the disciples were with Him, and He asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?” Matt 16:13-16; Mark 8:27-29 19 They answered, “John the Baptist, and some say, Elijah; but others, that one of the ancient prophets has come back to life.” 20 And He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter replied, “^aThe Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed) of God!” 21 But He ^astrictly warned and admonished them not to tell this to anyone, 22 ^asaying, “^bThe 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.” Matt 16:21-28; Mark 8:31-9:1

23 And He was saying to them all, “^aIf 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. 24 For ^awhoever 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. 25 For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world wealth, fame, success, and ^aloses or forfeits himself? 26 ^aFor 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. 27 But I tell you truthfully, ^athere are ¹some among those standing here who will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God.”

28 Now ^aabout eight days after these teachings, He took along ^bPeter and John and James and ^cwent up on the mountain ^dto pray. Matt 17:1-8; Mark 9:2-8 29 As He was ^apraying, the appearance of His face ^bbecame different actually transformed, and His clothing became white and flashing with the brilliance of lightning. 30 And behold, two men were talking with Him; and they were Moses and Elijah, 31 who appeared in glory, and were speaking of His ^adeparture from earthly life, which He was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem. 32 Now Peter and those who were with him ^ahad been overcome with sleep; but when they were fully awake, they saw His glory and splendor and majesty, and the two men who were standing with Him. 33 And as these men, Moses and Elijah were leaving Him, Peter said to Jesus, “^aMaster, it is delightful and good for us to be here; ^bwe should make three sacred tents; one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah”—^cnot realizing what he was saying. 34 But even as he was saying this, a cloud formed and began to overshadow them; and they were greatly afraid as they entered the cloud. 35 Then ^1aa voice came out of the cloud, saying, “^bThis is My beloved Son, My Chosen One; listen and obey and yield to Him!” 36 When the voice had ceased, Jesus was found there alone. And ^athey kept silent, and told no one at that time any of the things which they had seen concerning the divine manifestation. 2+@Pet 1:16-19

37 On ^athe next day, when they came down from the mountain, a large crowd met Him. Matt 17:14-18; Mark 9:14-27 38 And a man from the crowd shouted for help, “Teacher, I beg You to look at my son, because he is my only child; 39 and a spirit seizes him, and suddenly he cries out, and it throws him into a convulsion so that he foams at the mouth; and only with great difficulty does it leave him, mauling and bruising him as it leaves. 40 I begged Your disciples to cast it out, but they could not.” 41 Jesus answered, “You unbelieving and perverted generation! How long shall I be with you and put up with you? Bring your son here to Me.” 42 Even while the boy was coming, the demon slammed him down and threw him into a violent convulsion. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, and healed the boy and gave him back to his father. 43 They were all amazed practically overwhelmed at the evidence of the ^agreatness of God and His majesty and His wondrous work. Mark 9:30-32

^bBut while they were still awed by everything Jesus was doing, He said to His disciples, 44 “Let these words sink into your ears: ^athe Son of Man is going to be betrayed and handed over to men who are His enemies.” 45 However, ^athey did not understand this statement. Its meaning was kept hidden from them so that they would not grasp it; and they were afraid to ask Him about it.

46 ^aAn argument started among them as to which of them might be the greatest surpassing the others in esteem and authority. Matt 18:1-5; Mark 9:33-37 47 But Jesus, ^aknowing what they were thinking in their heart, took a child and had him stand beside Him, 48 and He told them, “^aWhoever welcomes this child in My name welcomes Me; and whoever welcomes Me also welcomes Him who sent Me; ^bfor the one who is least among all of you that is, the one who is genuinely humble—the one with a realistic self-view—he is the one who is truly great.”

49 ^aJohn replied, “^bMaster, we saw someone driving out demons in Your name; and we tried to stop him because he does not follow along with us.” Mark 9:38-40 50 But Jesus told him, “Do not stop him; ^afor he who is not against you is for you.” Matt 12:30

51 Now when the time was approaching for ^aHim to be taken up to heaven, He was determined ^bto go to Jerusalem to fulfill His purpose. 52 He sent messengers on ahead of Him, and they went into a ^aSamaritan village to make arrangements for Him; 53 but the people would not welcome Him, ^1abecause He was traveling toward Jerusalem. 54 When His disciples ^aJames and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to ^bcommand fire to come down from heaven and destroy them?” 2+@Kin 1:9-16 55 But He turned and rebuked them [¹and He said, “You do not know what kind of spirit you are; 56 for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.”] And they journeyed on to another village.

57 ^aAs they were going along the road, ^bsomeone said to Him, “I will follow You wherever You go.” Matt 8:19-22 58 And Jesus told him, “Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but ^athe Son of Man has no place to lay His head.” 59 He said to another, “^aFollow Me accepting Me as Master and Teacher.” But he said, “Lord, allow me first to go and ¹bury my father.” Matt 8:21, 22 60 But He said to him, “Allow the spiritually dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and ^aspread the news about the kingdom of God.” 61 Another also said, “I will follow You, Lord as Your disciple; but first ^alet me say goodbye to those at my home.” 62 But Jesus said to him, “^aNo one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back to the things left behind is fit for the kingdom of God.”