He said to them, “Take nothing for your journey – no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, and do not take an extra tunic.

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

Now Herod the tetrarch heard about everything that was happening, and he was thoroughly perplexed, because some people were saying that John had been raised from the dead,

Herod said, “I had John beheaded, but who is this about whom I hear such things?” So Herod wanted to learn about Jesus.

As he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud.

Then a voice came from the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, my Chosen One. Listen to him!”

Then a man from the crowd cried out, “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son – he is my only child!

John answered, “Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him because he is not a disciple along with us.”

Now when the days drew near for him to be taken up, Jesus set out resolutely to go to Jerusalem.

Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but first let me say goodbye to my family.”

And if a peace-loving person is there, your peace will remain on him, but if not, it will return to you.

“The one who listens to you listens to me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”

Then the seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name!”

Now an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus, saying, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

The expert in religious law said, “The one who showed mercy to him.” So Jesus said to him, “Go and do the same.”

But Jesus, realizing their thoughts, said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is destroyed, and a divided household falls.

So if Satan too is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? I ask you this because you claim that I cast out demons by Beelzebul.

But when a stronger man attacks and conquers him, he takes away the first man’s armor on which the man relied and divides up his plunder.

For just as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so the Son of Man will be a sign to this generation.

So you testify that you approve of the deeds of your ancestors, because they killed the prophets and you build their tombs!