Matius 5:46

5:46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Even the tax collectors ¹  do the same, don’t they?

Matius 10:38

10:38 And whoever does not take up his cross ²  and follow me is not worthy of me.

Matius 13:56

13:56 And aren’t all his sisters here with us? Where did he get all this?” ³ 

Matius 22:8

22:8 Then he said to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but the ones who had been invited were not worthy.

Matius 26:11

26:11 For you will always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me! ⁴ 

[5:46]  ¹ sn The tax collectors would bid to collect taxes for the Roman government and then add a surcharge, which they kept. Since tax collectors worked for Rome, they were viewed as traitors to their own people and were not well liked.

[10:38]  ² sn It was customary practice in a Roman crucifixion for the prisoner to be made to carry his own cross. Jesus is speaking figuratively here in the context of rejection. If the priority is not one’s allegiance to Jesus, then one will not follow him in the face of possible rejection.

[13:56]  ³ tn Grk “Where did he get these things?”

[26:11]  ⁴ tn In the Greek text of this clause, “me” is in emphatic position (the first word in the clause). To convey some impression of the emphasis, an exclamation point is used in the translation.