Luke : Day 21

Read Luke 9:51 - 10:24

Don’t you love it when a character in a story is resolute – determined and unwavering? The fighter who clenches his jaw and walks towards the enemy, or the astronaut who seals herself into the spacecraft and prepares to leave home in the name of exploration!

Did you see the determination of Jesus? “As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem” (verse 51). Being ‘taken up to heaven’ would only take place after his death and resurrection, but Jesus was determined to go through with all of it, to carry out His Father’s plan and provide a rescue for sinners.  

The prophet Isaiah had predicted the Messiah’s resolution:

“I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard;
I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting.
Because the Sovereign Lord helps me, I will not be disgraced.
Therefore have I set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame.” (Isaiah 50:6-7)

Jesus trusted His Father and ‘set His face like flint’ towards Jerusalem. Luke takes the next ten chapters to describe this journey. Along the way, Jesus met with people who welcomed Him as the Messiah, and others who rejected His message. By doing so, they rejected the God they thought they worshipped (verse 16).

Many people think that they are worshipping God but have never trusted Jesus as Lord and Saviour. Jesus taught that if we reject Him, we reject God, who sent Jesus and wants all people to trust in His Son. Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

“…whoever rejects me rejects him who sent me.”

Luke 10:16