Ride On to Die

“And He resolutely set His face to go to Jerusalem” – Luke 9:51

This was not the post I was going to write today.  Have you ever felt like what you were going to say paled by comparison to what needed to be said? 

Jesus is going to die this week.  Today starts the day, Passion week where we think of a Savior who will resolutely go to the most gruesome of punishments, be completely abandoned by the Father, and abandoned by His friends.  Jesus knows this is going to happen as he enters Jerusalem.  He hears the crowd shouting “Hosanna” meaning “save us we pray” knowing that this crowds expectations will not be met.  This is no political deliverance.  This is a spiritual deliverance and the crowd is simply not wanting a spiritual deliverance.  Jesus did not come to take over the culture but to take over our hearts. 

How quickly the crowd turns.  I have read commentaries suggesting it was a different crowd that shouted “Crucify Him”, but I would not be far fetched to think it was the same crowd.  After all, the disciples all abandoned him after being prepared to fight for him initially in the Garden.  The Savior willingly dispels the notion that he will fight the Roman authorities and hands himself over to them.  I have always been fascinated by the guy in Mark 14:51-52. 

And a certain young man was following Him, wearing nothing but a linen sheet over his naked body; and they *seized him. 52 But he left the linen sheet behind, and escaped naked.

Most scholars believe this is Mark himself.  If so, he was likely a teenager who followed along as he heard the commotion.  It is likely Mark’s house was the scene of the Upper Room where Christ celebrated the Passover meal.  If so, Mark does not hesitate to tell you he abandoned Jesus.  He fled.  They all did.  We would too if we were there.  If Jesus was a political crusader, no doubt they would have done like Peter promised.  These were guys ready to fight.  But he threw that notion on its ear.  No matter how many times he said why he was going to Jerusalem, they did not get it.  Classic mismatched expectations. 

The idea was to ride on, to ride on to die.