Setting Our Face

“When the days were approaching for His ascension, He was determined to go to Jerusalem." (NASB) Luke 9:51

This verse looks so innocent…so welcoming…so inviting when thinking about Jesus getting ready to return to His home in heaven. But what is not written in this verse was what He had to experience to get there. He was well educated in the prophesies that had to be fulfilled regarding the end of His life. He fully knew the messy and painful ending that must first occur to receive His ascension. It wasn’t going to be pretty…it wouldn’t be fair…it would be one of the most brutal murders in the history of our world. He would be tortured, humiliated, left alone to die and experience intense suffering, and yet ‘He was determined to go.’

I remember when my dad had about 6 months to live, we were discussing him going to heaven and the peace that he had with his journey home. He confided that as his days were coming to an end the only anxiety he felt was how it would occur. Jesus knew how His ending on earth would play out, but we do not. Jesus stayed laser focused on His ascension instead of His death and so should we. ‘Jesus set His face to go to Jerusalem. He not only determined to make the journey; He resolutely tightened His lips, set His jaw, and fixed His eye on the cross and His resurrection. Every story He told, every miracle He performed, and every conversation in which He engaged, from this point on, had the cross pulsating in the back of His mind.’ Charles Swindoll, Insights on Luke: Swindoll’s Living Insights New Testament Commentary, p. 123.

I can’t imagine staying focused on life when we know death is coming. I can’t imagine putting aside my thoughts and fears to focus on the message for others to abundantly live and love with God at the center. But that is what Jesus was determined to do…live out the message that because He would die, we could live. But then just when my thoughts feel heavy God pointed me to the end of the story of Luke which is the end of our story and our departed loved ones. “Now it came to pass, while He blessed them, that He was parted from them and carried up into heaven.” Luke 24:51.

This verse is what makes it worth it. After we share in the suffering of death we will share in the blessing of Heaven. Just like Jesus we will be ‘parted’ from our loved ones who will one day follow, and we will be carried into heaven. My mind races…my heart hopes…my joy is in my future home. Who will I see when I take my first breath in eternity? Jesus. Who will carry me through those gates? Jesus. Just think...one day just as the cross stands empty for Christ, the crosses we bear on earth will one day also stand empty. We must be people of determination and courage to keep our eyes firmly on the path of Jesus which ends up at the throne of God. And we will all sing, ‘Holy, holy, holy’ as we raise our hallelujah’s forever and amen!

“Therefore have I set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame.” Isaiah 50:7.