This is the moment we have been waiting for. It’s the moment throughout the gospel of Luke that we have heard about. Jesus has been predicting this death and his betrayal since right after he fed the five thousand. He knew where his journey would lead even though his disciples didn’t understand what he was trying to tell them.
There is something familiar about this story and this perspective. There are these moments in our lives when we know what we are experiencing or that the decision we are about to make is going to be life changing in some way. Some people describe feeling like they experience these moments in slow motion or remembering really small details with incredible accuracy. These are the moments that become the mile markers in the story of our lives.
The gospel writer will refer to Jesus turning or setting his face to Jerusalem as the story gets closer and closer to the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem. There is no mistaken where Jesus’ Journey lead. It leads to Jerusalem where he will weep over the city and overturn tables in the temple.
As we enter this Holy Week, there is a something about the single-minded focus of Jesus’ Journey that is particularly compelling in a world of divided attention. It is difficult to get someone’s attention. Those rare moments when we get to spend time with someone who is fully present and fully attentive to that moment are few and far between in the midst of notifications, updates, and distractions. We are pulled in so many different directions, but Jesus’ Journey to Jerusalem beckons us to consider a different way of being. What would it look like to be so sure of where we were headed that we set our face towards that? What would it look like to set our hearts and minds on that journey and that journey alone?
As we shout Hosanna, may we set our faces to Jesus’ Journey to Jerusalem as we watch and wait for what is to come.