45. But the followers did not understand what Jesus meant. The meaning was hidden from them so that they could not understand it. But they were afraid to ask Jesus about what he said.
46. Jesus’ followers began to have an argument about which one of them was the greatest.
47. Jesus knew what they were thinking. So he took a little child and stood the child beside him.
48. Then Jesus said, “If anyone accepts a little child like this in my name, then he accepts me. And when he accepts me, he accepts the One who sent me. He who is least among you all—he is the greatest.”
49. John answered, “Master, we saw someone using your name to force demons out of people. We told him to stop because he does not belong to our group.”
50. Jesus said to him, “Don’t stop him. If a person is not against you, then he is for you.”
51. The time was coming near when Jesus would leave and be taken to heaven. He was determined to go to Jerusalem
52. and sent some men ahead of him. The men went into a town in Samaria to make everything ready for Jesus.
53. But the people there would not welcome him because he was going toward Jerusalem.
54. James and John, the followers of Jesus, saw this. They said, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven and destroy those people?”
55. But Jesus turned and scolded them. [And Jesus said, “You don’t know what kind of spirit you belong to.
56. The Son of Man did not come to destroy the souls of men but to save them.”] Then he and his followers went to another town.