Hi everyone. Welcome back to the Daily Gospel Exegesis podcast. And we're doing just that.

We're looking at the gospel reading from today's Mass, and we're looking at what

Jesus was saying, what the gospel author was trying to say, and we're trying to get at the

literal sense.

That's always where we want to start when we're studying the Bible.

And so today we're going to hear from Luke chapter 9, verses 22 to 25.

Jesus said to his disciples,

the son of man is destined to suffer grievously,

to be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and to be put to death,

and to be raised up on the third day.

Then to all, he said,

if anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross every day and follow me.

For anyone who wants to save his life will lose it, but anyone who loses his life for my sake, that man will save it.

What gain then is it for a man to have won the whole world,

and to have lost or ruined his very self?

So challenging teaching in here, and we're hearing from Luke's version,

but you'll hear very similar versions in Mark and Matthew as well. So let's start by talking about the context. So just before this in

Luke chapter 9, Jesus has asked his disciples, who do you say that I am? And of course, Peter

answers, you are the Christ. And then Jesus tells them not to tell anyone that he's the

Christ. And then it leads immediately into this. So this is kind of the second half of Jesus

sentence that we're about to hear. He's just finished telling the disciples, don't tell anyone I'm

the Christ. And then he says, the son of man is destined.

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