READER 1	Large crowds were traveling with Jesus,
READER 2	Multitudes filled the roads following him,
READER 3	Large numbers camped where Jesus stopped
READER 2	Stayed in the towns where he visited
READER 1	Huge crowds
READER 2	Large numbers
READER 3	multitudes
READER 1	Jesus turned to the multitudes and said:
READER 3	If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters -- yes, even his own life -- he cannot be my disciple.
READER 1	His father?
READER 2	His mother?
READER 3	His wife and children?
READER 1	His brothers?
READER 2	His sisters?
READER 3	His own life?
READER 1	Why should you have to hate others to follow Jesus?
READER 2	Why so off-the-wall?
READER 3	Why so radical?
READER 1	Anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.
READER 2	Carry his cross?
READER 3	What does that mean?
READER 1	And follow Jesus...
READER 2	That I understand, or do I.
READER 1	What does it mean in the Twenty-First Century to hate one's family
READER 2	and carry one's cross
READER 3	and follow Jesus?
READER 1	Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it?
READER 2	For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying,
READER 3	'This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.
READER 1	He began the job
READER 2	But couldn't finish it.
READER 3	Poor foresight.
READER 2	Lack of planning.
READER 1	Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king.
READER 2	Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand?
READER 3	10,000 versus 20,000 isn't very good odds.
READER 1	If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace.
READER 2	In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.
READER 1	Give up everything?
READER 3	Give it up to whom?
READER 1	Discipleship sounds pretty serious.
READER 2	Discipleship sounds hard.
READER 1	Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?
READER 1	It is fit neither for the soil
READER 2	nor for the manure pile;
READER 3	it is thrown out.
READER 1	It looks like salt,
READER 2	But the sodium chloride has leached out.
READER 3	And all that is left is impurity.
READER 1	Salt without a salty tang is worthless.
READER 2	Insipid disciples are worthless, too.
READER 1	He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
READER 2	He who has ears,
READER 3	Let him hear.