Luke 9:1-27

Jesus summoned together his twelve apostles and imparted to them authority over every demon and the power to heal every disease. Then he commissioned them to proclaim God’s kingdom and to heal the sick to demonstrate that the kingdom had arrived. As he sent them out, he gave them these instructions: “Take nothing extra on your journey. Just go as you are. Don’t carry a staff, a backpack, food, money, not even a change of clothes. Whatever home welcomes you as a guest, remain there and make it your base of ministry. And wherever your ministry is rejected, you are to leave that town and shake the dust off your shoes as a testimony before them.” The apostles departed and went into the villages with the wonderful news of God’s kingdom, and they healed diseases wherever they went. Now, Herod, the governor, was confused and perplexed when he heard reports of all the miracles of Jesus and his apostles. Many were saying, “John the Baptizer has come back to life!” Others said, “This has to be Elijah who has reappeared or one of the prophets of old who has risen from the dead.” These were the rumors circulating throughout the land. Herod exclaimed, “Who is this Man? I keep hearing about him over and over. It can’t be the prophet John; I had him beheaded!” So, Herod was very eager to meet Jesus. Months later, the apostles returned from their ministry tour and told Jesus all the wonders and miracles they had witnessed. Jesus, wanting to be alone with the Twelve, quietly slipped away with them toward Bethsaida. Crowds soon found out about it and took off after him. When they caught up with Jesus, he graciously welcomed them all, taught them more about God’s kingdom, and healed all who were sick. As the day wore on, the Twelve came to Jesus and told him, “It’s getting late. You should send the crowds to the surrounding villages and farms to get something to eat and find shelter for the night. There’s nothing to eat here in the middle of nowhere.” Jesus responded, “You have the food to feed them.” They replied, “All we have are these five small loaves of bread and two dried fish. Do you really expect us to go buy food for all these people? There are nearly five thousand men here, with women and children besides!” He told his disciples, “Have them all sit down in groups of fifty each.” After everyone was seated, Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, and gazing into the heavenly realm he gave thanks for the food. Then, in the presence of his disciples, he broke off pieces of bread and fish, and kept giving more to each disciple to give to the crowd. It was multiplying before their eyes! So everyone ate until they were filled, and afterward the disciples gathered up the leftovers—it came to exactly twelve baskets full! One time, Jesus was praying in a quiet place with his disciples nearby. He went to them and asked, “Who do people think I am?” They answered, “Some are convinced you’re the prophet John who has returned. Others say you are Elijah, or perhaps one of the Jewish prophets brought back from the dead.” Jesus asked them, “But who do you believe that I am?” Peter said, “You are the Anointed One, God’s Messiah!” Jesus gave them strict orders not to tell this to anyone yet, saying, “The Son of Man is destined to experience great suffering and face complete rejection by the Jewish leaders and religious hierarchy. He will be killed and raised back to life on the third day.” Jesus said to all of his followers, “If you truly desire to be my disciple, you must disown your life completely, embrace my ‘cross’ as your own, and surrender to my ways. For if you choose self-sacrifice, giving up your lives for my glory, you will discover true life. But if you choose to keep your lives for yourselves, you will lose what you try to keep. Even if you gained all the wealth and power of this world, and all the things it could offer you, yet lost your soul in the process, what good is that? So why then are you ashamed of being my disciple? Are you ashamed of the revelation-truth I give to you? “I, the Son of Man, will one day return in my radiant brightness, with the holy angels and in the splendor and majesty of my Father. On that day I will be ashamed of everyone who has been ashamed of me. “I promise you this: there are some of you standing here right now who will not die until you have witnessed the presence and the power of God’s kingdom realm.”