Matthew 10

1 Jesus told his followers, “You know about students and teachers. The teacher is more important than any of the students. The students have to learn to be like their teacher. And I am your teacher, so you have to learn to be like me. And you know about workers and their boss. The boss is more important than any of the workers. The workers have to learn to be like their boss. And I am your boss, so you have to learn to be like me. People will treat you the same way as they treat me. I am your leader, and they call me the biggest devil. You are my followers, so they will say bad things about you too, more than they say about me.⋮

2 But don’t be frightened of them. You see, people might do things secretly now, but later God will let everyone know what they do. People hide things now, but later God will show them to everybody.⋮

3 And think about the message I tell you now. Sometimes I tell you something when nobody else is here. I might even just whisper it in your ear. But later on, I want you to tell my message to everyone in the world. Get up on a high place, if you can, and shout my words out loud, for lots of people to hear.⋮

4 Don’t be frightened of those people that can only kill your body. They can’t kill your soul. Listen, you have to take notice of God. He can kill your body, and then he can also kill your soul too, in that bad place called hell.⋮

5 You know those little birds called sparrows? They are not very dear. You can buy 2 of them for a few dollars. But God remembers each one of them anyway, and if one of them falls down to the ground, God notices it.⋮

6 Well, you are more important to God than a big mob of those birds, so don’t be frightened. He knows you properly. He even knows how many hairs you have on your head. So he will only let things happen to you that will be good for you.”⋮

7 Jesus said, “If you tell everyone that you are one of my followers, then I will tell God, my Father in heaven, that you are one of my followers.⋮

8 But if you tell everyone that you are not one of my followers, then I will tell God, my Father in heaven, that I don’t know you, and I will tell him you are not one of my followers.⋮

9 Don’t think that I came into the world to get everyone to agree with each other. No. People will not agree about me, and some will fight those that they don’t agree with. It will be like this,⋮

10 Maybe your own family will not want me, and they will turn against you and be your enemies. A man will be the enemy of his father. A daughter will be the enemy of her mother. A woman will be the enemy of her mother-in-law.⋮

11 You see, you have to love me more than you love your own father and mother. Then it is all right for you to be my follower. And you have to love me more than you love your own son or daughter. Then it is all right for you to be my follower. If you don’t love me like that, you are not the right person to be my follower.”⋮

12 If anyone wants to follow me properly, they have to stop thinking only about themselves. They have to live like me. They have to be ready to die, yes, die like a crook on a cross, just like me.⋮

13 If anyone only wants to look after their own life here on earth, they will not live for ever. Really, they will lose their life. But if anyone is happy to give up their life here and live my way, they will find real life. They will live with me for ever.⋮