But he answered them, ¹  “An evil and adulterous generation asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.

And concerning them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says: ‘You will listen carefully ¹  yet will never understand, you will look closely ²  yet will never comprehend.

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone wants to become my follower, ¹  he must deny ²  himself, take up his cross, ³  and follow me.

No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; otherwise, the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and the tear becomes worse.

but ¹  worldly cares, the seductiveness of wealth, ²  and the desire for other things come in and choke the word, ³  and it produces nothing.

Then ¹  he cried out with a loud voice, “Leave me alone, ²  Jesus, Son of the Most High God! I implore you by God ³  – do not torment me!”

But he answered them, ¹  “You ²  give them something to eat.” And they said, “Should we go and buy bread for two hundred silver coins ³  and give it to them to eat?”

Then ¹  Jesus ²  called the crowd, along with his disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wants to become my follower, ³  he must deny ⁴  himself, take up his cross, ⁵  and follow me.

For whoever wants to save his life ¹  will lose it, ²  but whoever loses his life for my sake and for the gospel will save it.

for he was teaching his disciples and telling them, “The Son of Man will be betrayed into the hands of men. ¹  They ²  will kill him, ³  and after three days he will rise.” ⁴ 

And he ¹  said to him, “To you ²  I will grant this whole realm ³  – and the glory that goes along with it, ⁴  for it has been relinquished ⁵  to me, and I can give it to anyone I wish.

“Ha! Leave us alone, ¹  Jesus the Nazarene! Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are – the Holy One ²  of God.”

He also told them a parable: ¹  “No one tears a patch from a new garment and sews ²  it on an old garment. If he does, he will have torn ³  the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. ⁴ 

When he saw ¹  Jesus, he cried out, fell ²  down before him, and shouted with a loud voice, “Leave me alone, ³  Jesus, Son of the Most High ⁴  God! I beg you, do not torment ⁵  me!”

But he said to them, “You ¹  give them something to eat.” They ²  replied, ³  “We have no more than five loaves and two fish – unless ⁴  we go ⁵  and buy food ⁶  for all these people.”

Then ¹  he said to them all, ²  “If anyone wants to become my follower, ³  he must deny ⁴  himself, take up his cross daily, ⁵  and follow me.

I tell you, even though the man inside ¹  will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of the first man’s ²  sheer persistence ³  he will get up and give him whatever he needs.

“If anyone comes to me and does not hate ¹  his own father and mother, and wife and children, and brothers and sisters, and even his own life, ²  he cannot be my disciple.

So ¹  he called the manager ²  in and said to him, ‘What is this I hear about you? ³  Turn in the account of your administration, ⁴  because you can no longer be my manager.’

And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by how you use worldly wealth, ¹  so that when it runs out you will be welcomed ²  into the eternal homes. ³