For the Joy Set Before Him: Jesus's Final Journey to Jerusalemਨਮੂਨਾ

I Must Press On

In any case, I must press on today and tomorrow and the next day—for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem! Luke 13:33 (NIV)

As Jesus pressed on towards Jerusalem, someone asked him, "Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?" (Luke 13:23). His response was both an urgent warning and a heartfelt invitation. The narrow door stood open—but it would not remain so forever. Many would seek to enter later and would not be able.

These difficult words revealed a sobering truth: eating and drinking with Jesus wasn't the same thing as entering the door of his kingdom. Many listened to his teaching but stumbled over his path. The narrow door required a commitment to follow Jesus on his journey—a journey leading to Jerusalem, to rejection, to the cross.

Then came a warning from some Pharisees: "Leave this place. Herod wants to kill you” (Luke 13:31). Jesus's response was both defiant and heartbreaking. No threat could deter him from his path. Yet in the same breath that he declared his resolve, he cried out in anguish: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem... how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing!”

The invitation remained open—to enter through the narrow door, to join Jesus on this difficult path, to be gathered under his wings. But many would refuse, offended by a Messiah who pressed on in the way of suffering rather than usurped in the way of power.

Reflection

Put yourself in the shoes of the anonymous person who asks Jesus the question, or the Pharisees who bring Jesus the warning:

• What motivated you to approach Jesus at this time?
• What is the tone of Jesus’s voice as he responds to you?
• How does it feel to hear the content of his response?

Can you relate to either of these experiences? When have you had someone respond to you with a truth that was difficult to hear? Or when have you had someone push back against a warning you offered? What was your motivation in asking the question or in offering the warning?