Text: Luke 9:51
When the days were approaching for His ascension, He was determined to go to Jerusalem;
I think this simple one verse starts a final journey which will put Jesus in Jerusalem at the time of Passover and lead to his death and resurrection. Jesus has entered a final stage in his life and ministry and now his final completion of his work for the Father is about to be realized. For the moment, he ministers one last time in Galilee but even this is only the first leg of his final journey. In a couple of months, the journey will end in Jerusalem.
From this point on there will be three conflicts of note with Jesus 1) His continuing battles with the Pharisees, 2) His disciples understanding of Jesus and Jesus’ true understanding of who he is will continue to clash and 3) Jesus’ humanity and what God is calling him to do will create conflict in himself from time to time.
The one thing no one will do is stop him from determining to go to Jerusalem because without this final journey everything will not be as it should be in the end. The real challenge at first is getting others to understand that fact.
Next: Fire from Heaven