The End of the Journey
During the season of Lent, I’m preaching a sermon series entitled The Journey. Along with the weekly sermon, I’ll be blogging on my church’s website. So I’ve decided to put those posts on this – my personal blog – as well. Here’s the final week…
Scripture: Luke 13:22, 31-35
Most of us are familiar with the Robert Frost poem, “The Road Not Taken.” It ends with the poignant phrase,
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I–
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference
In the Church, the Sunday before Easter is observed as Palm Sunday. It is the day we remember Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem at the start of what we call Holy Week, the last week of Jesus’ earthly life.
In the gospel of Luke, Jesus makes very clear to his disciples that he is journeying toward Jerusalem where he will be crucified. The writing is on the wall. Even a group of Pharisees (pretty unlikely allies) remind Jesus that Jerusalem is a dangerous place for him to frequent. If he’s wise, he’ll reverse course.
But Jesus forges ahead. He forges ahead because he has a clear understanding of the work God has called him to do. His ministry began in the 4th chapter of Luke when he gave a sermon in his hometown synagogue at Nazareth. Reading from the prophet Isaiah, he gave witness to God’s call on his life. Those words from Isaiah were his personal mission statement and he never wavered in his mission. From the start Jesus encountered resistant. But he still chose to travel to Jerusalem. He still chose to take the road that led him toward death because he knew that it was also the road that would lead to our salvation.
Our life’s journeys may not be as clear and discernible as we would like them to be. And we may struggle to find our way along life’s path. But, thanks be to God that Jesus knew the path his life should take and he was committed to the journey. He did not take the easy road or the coward’s way out. He gave his life for us. He took the “road less traveled by. And that has made all the difference”for us.
traceyleslie 