Our Determined Savior
Scripture Reading — Luke 9:51-53
Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.
Luke 9:51
Picture Jesus setting out resolutely toward Jerusalem. He is still in Galilee, but the time has come for his most important work: redeeming the world from sin by dying on a cross in Jerusalem. The religious feasts of Unleavened Bread and Passover are approaching, and Jesus wants to be in Jerusalem. In the celebration of these feasts there are many symbolic signs that point to Jesus. He is the Passover Lamb that will die for the sin of the world so that God's people can be saved (see John 1:29). He is also the living bread that God's people will later "eat" symbolically by faith for eternal life (John 6:51).
Scholars refer to the next several chapters in Luke as a "travel narrative." Every story from Luke 9:51-19:10 is told in the knowledge that at the end of this journey stood a cruel cross of death. Jesus would give up his life to fulfill God's promises and establish his kingdom.
What Jesus does is, in some ways, like something he did at the very beginning of his teaching ministry. Back in the synagogue at Nazareth he announced that he was the fulfillment of God's restoration promises recorded in Isaiah (Luke 4:16-21). Already then he was setting out resolutely to the task of dying, declaring to everyone that he would be sure to carry it out.
The resolve that Jesus displayed in these ways makes me think of him as our determined Savior.
<p>Thank you, Jesus, for your willingness, your resolve, and your love. In your sacrificial death we can have eternal peace, joy, and righteousness. Thank you! Amen. </p>
About the author — David Den Haan
Pastor Dave Den Haan has served at Fairway Christian Reformed Church in Jenison, Michigan, since 1999. Previously he served a church in Minnesota. Dave and his wife, Connie, have three children.
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