Luke 9:28-62

About eight days after Jesus said these things, he took Peter, James, and John and went up on a mountain to pray. While Jesus was praying, his face was changed, and his clothes became shining white. Then two men were talking with Jesus. The men were Moses and Elijah. They appeared in heavenly glory, talking with Jesus about his death which would happen in Jerusalem. Peter and the others were asleep. But they woke up and saw the glory of Jesus. They also saw the two men who were standing with him. When Moses and Elijah were about to leave, Peter said, “Master, it is good that we are here. We will put three tents here—one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” (Peter did not know what he was saying.) While Peter was saying these things, a cloud came down all around them. Peter, James, and John became afraid when the cloud covered them. A voice came from the cloud. The voice said, “This is my Son. He is the One I have chosen. Obey him.” When the voice finished speaking, only Jesus was there. Peter, James, and John said nothing. At that time they told no one about what they had seen. The next day, Jesus, Peter, James, and John came down from the mountain. A large crowd met Jesus. A man in the crowd shouted to Jesus, “Teacher, please come and look at my son. He is the only child I have. An evil spirit comes into my son, and then he shouts. He loses control of himself, and he foams at the mouth. The evil spirit keeps on hurting him and almost never leaves him. I begged your followers to make the evil spirit leave my son, but they could not do it.” Jesus answered, “You people who live now have no faith. Your lives are all wrong. How long must I be with you and be patient with you?” Then Jesus said to the man, “Bring your son here.” While the boy was coming, the demon threw him on the ground. The boy lost control of himself. But Jesus gave a strong command to the evil spirit. Then the boy was healed, and Jesus gave him back to his father. All the people were amazed at the great power of God. The people were all wondering about the things Jesus did. But he said to his followers, “Don’t forget the things I tell you now: The Son of Man will be handed over into the control of men.” But the followers did not understand what Jesus meant. The meaning was hidden from them so that they could not understand it. But they were afraid to ask Jesus about what he said. Jesus’ followers began to have an argument about which one of them was the greatest. Jesus knew what they were thinking. So he took a little child and stood the child beside him. Then Jesus said, “If anyone accepts a little child like this in my name, then he accepts me. And when he accepts me, he accepts the One who sent me. He who is least among you all—he is the greatest.” John answered, “Master, we saw someone using your name to force demons out of people. We told him to stop because he does not belong to our group.” Jesus said to him, “Don’t stop him. If a person is not against you, then he is for you.” The time was coming near when Jesus would leave and be taken to heaven. He was determined to go to Jerusalem and sent some men ahead of him. The men went into a town in Samaria to make everything ready for Jesus. But the people there would not welcome him because he was going toward Jerusalem. James 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?” But Jesus turned and scolded them. [And Jesus said, “You don’t know what kind of spirit you belong to. The Son of Man did not come to destroy the souls of men but to save them.”] Then he and his followers went to another town. They were all going along the road. Someone said to Jesus, “I will follow you any place you go.” Jesus answered, “The foxes have holes to live in. The birds have nests to live in. But the Son of Man has no place to rest his head.” Jesus said to another man, “Follow me!” But the man said, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” But Jesus said to him, “Let the people who are dead bury their own dead! You must go and tell about the kingdom of God.” Another man said, “I will follow you, Lord, but first let me go and say good-bye to my family.” Jesus said, “Anyone who begins to plow a field but keeps looking back is of no use in the kingdom of God.”