Luke 9:5-25

⁵Wherever they do not receive you, when you leave that town, shake off the dust from your feet as a testimony against them.”

⁶Then they departed and went through the villages, proclaiming the good news and healing everywhere.

⁷Now Herod the tetrarch heard about all that was happening, and he was perplexed, because it was said by some that John had risen from the dead,

⁸and others said that Elijah had appeared, and still others that one of the prophets of long ago had risen.

⁹Herod said, “I beheaded John. Who is this about whom I hear such things?” And so he tried to see him.

¹⁰When the apostles returned, they told him everything they had done. Then he took them with him, and they went away privately to a town called Bethsaida.

¹¹But when the crowds heard about this, they followed him. He welcomed them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and he cured those who needed healing.

¹²Now the day was about to come to an end, and the twelve came to him and said, “Send the crowd away that they may go into the surrounding villages and countryside to find lodging and food, because we are here in an isolated place.”

¹³But he said to them, “You give them something to eat.” They said, “We have no more than five loaves of bread and two fish—unless we go and buy food for all these people.”

¹⁴(There were about five thousand men.) He said to his disciples, “Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each.”

¹⁵So they did this, and made the people sit down.

¹⁶Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, he blessed them and broke them into pieces, and he gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd.

¹⁷They all ate and were satisfied, and what was left over was picked up—twelve baskets of broken pieces.

¹⁸It came about while Jesus was praying by himself, the disciples were with him. He questioned them, saying, “Who do the crowds say that I am?”

¹⁹They answered, “John the Baptist. But others say Elijah, and others say that one of the prophets from long ago has risen.”

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

²¹But he strongly warned 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 he will be killed and on the third day be raised.”

²³Then he said to them all, “If anyone wants to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

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

²⁵What good is it for a person to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit himself?