WEBVTT 00:00:01.279 --> 00:00:07.639 Rain down fire? On who? You think this is conquest? 00:00:08.859 --> 00:00:11.300 He's not marching to a throne. He's walking to 00:00:11.300 --> 00:00:21.920 his death. For love. You've been walking for 00:00:21.920 --> 00:00:24.980 weeks now. Through wilderness dust, manna mornings, 00:00:25.260 --> 00:00:28.460 burning bushes, and bronze serpent mercy. And 00:00:28.460 --> 00:00:31.660 now the road changes. Jesus is no longer wandering, 00:00:31.800 --> 00:00:35.020 no longer lingering in the lessons of the desert. 00:00:35.460 --> 00:00:38.320 Luke says he set his face towards Jerusalem, 00:00:38.479 --> 00:00:42.520 not as a man chasing glory, but as a man who 00:00:42.520 --> 00:00:46.640 knows exactly what love will cost him. The road 00:00:46.640 --> 00:00:50.500 turns south. The door closes in a Samaritan village. 00:00:50.780 --> 00:00:54.740 The disciples, they want fire. Jesus, he wants 00:00:54.740 --> 00:00:58.329 mercy. And somewhere in that turn, Between the 00:00:58.329 --> 00:01:01.409 flint -faced resolve and the refusal to destroy, 00:01:01.649 --> 00:01:04.769 there's a word here for all of us. Tonight, we're 00:01:04.769 --> 00:01:06.629 gathered around tables in the Fellowship Hall 00:01:06.629 --> 00:01:09.909 just after our midweek meal. Our Bibles are open, 00:01:10.030 --> 00:01:13.209 cups still sweating. A little tired, maybe, but 00:01:13.209 --> 00:01:16.109 we're here. The chatter's settling down now. 00:01:16.230 --> 00:01:18.829 The lesson is about to begin. So pull up your 00:01:18.829 --> 00:01:22.150 chair in close, and let's walk this road together. 00:01:22.890 --> 00:01:31.640 I'll see you on the other side. Before I begin, 00:01:31.840 --> 00:01:33.420 our friend Wayne isn't here, so I'm going to 00:01:33.420 --> 00:01:37.319 look to Wayne's table, and I get multiple thumbs. 00:01:37.420 --> 00:01:39.980 Not even one thumbs down tonight. Not even one. 00:01:41.079 --> 00:01:44.859 So I will begin, but before I actually begin, 00:01:45.000 --> 00:01:47.579 for those of you that were with us on Sunday, 00:01:47.680 --> 00:01:51.500 Honest Engine, did you know that the two verses 00:01:51.500 --> 00:01:54.579 before John 3 .16 were about a snake fight? I 00:01:54.579 --> 00:01:56.739 had no idea. Okay, all right, because I kind 00:01:56.739 --> 00:01:59.310 of felt like that was one that... Most people 00:01:59.310 --> 00:02:01.090 know their Bible, but when I tell them that, 00:02:01.109 --> 00:02:02.569 I think there's going to be some folks who are 00:02:02.569 --> 00:02:06.170 going to be like, I did not know that. So many 00:02:06.170 --> 00:02:10.289 of you, I think everyone here, but at least many 00:02:10.289 --> 00:02:11.930 of you have been with us throughout the entire 00:02:11.930 --> 00:02:15.330 season of Lent so far. And maybe you have noticed, 00:02:15.409 --> 00:02:17.930 maybe you haven't noticed, but you will after 00:02:17.930 --> 00:02:20.909 I tell you, because we have all been walking 00:02:20.909 --> 00:02:24.129 together for weeks now, not just tonight, but 00:02:24.129 --> 00:02:26.629 through the entire season. And we have stood 00:02:26.629 --> 00:02:30.330 before. a bush that was burning and was not consumed. 00:02:30.949 --> 00:02:33.389 And we'd eaten manna that we couldn't store. 00:02:33.629 --> 00:02:38.289 And we looked up at a bronze serpent on a pole, 00:02:38.469 --> 00:02:40.610 and we'd been told that the remedy looks exactly 00:02:40.610 --> 00:02:44.990 like the wound. But now, now the road is changing. 00:02:45.030 --> 00:02:48.610 The road is narrowing. And you could feel it 00:02:48.610 --> 00:02:54.110 in the man walking just ahead of you. Something 00:02:54.110 --> 00:02:58.159 in his shoulders. The way a farmer turns towards 00:02:58.159 --> 00:03:02.520 his field after the last frost doesn't seem to 00:03:02.520 --> 00:03:04.759 come back inside until the work is all done. 00:03:05.099 --> 00:03:08.479 Not because he isn't tired. Because something 00:03:08.479 --> 00:03:12.960 heavier than tired has taken hold. The wilderness 00:03:12.960 --> 00:03:17.280 is still visible behind us. It's close enough 00:03:17.280 --> 00:03:21.180 we can still smell the manna. But the man ahead 00:03:21.180 --> 00:03:24.900 of us isn't turning backward. He's already somewhere 00:03:24.900 --> 00:03:28.310 else. His body just hasn't caught up with him 00:03:28.310 --> 00:03:33.250 yet. And the road south towards Jerusalem does 00:03:33.250 --> 00:03:38.389 not forgive hesitation. And Luke says it plainly. 00:03:38.409 --> 00:03:41.710 When the days drew near for him to be taken up, 00:03:41.770 --> 00:03:48.189 he set his face towards Jerusalem. Set his face. 00:03:48.289 --> 00:03:52.490 The Greek word there is esterison. Esterison. 00:03:53.210 --> 00:03:55.590 And it's used for laying a foundation stone. 00:03:56.009 --> 00:04:00.370 It represents something permanent, unchangeable, 00:04:00.430 --> 00:04:03.990 something that the whole structure can depend 00:04:03.990 --> 00:04:08.830 upon. And there are moments when a decision stops 00:04:08.830 --> 00:04:12.969 being something that you think about and something 00:04:12.969 --> 00:04:17.610 that your body just does. And that's what Luke 00:04:17.610 --> 00:04:21.310 is describing here. Not a thought, but a turn. 00:04:21.829 --> 00:04:27.709 A man pointing his whole life at a city that's 00:04:27.709 --> 00:04:31.569 going to kill him just for showing up. And it 00:04:31.569 --> 00:04:37.649 begins not with a triumphant battle cry, but 00:04:37.649 --> 00:04:41.689 with messengers sent ahead to book a room in 00:04:41.689 --> 00:04:45.970 a Samaritan village. Friends, attune your ears 00:04:45.970 --> 00:04:48.680 to the reading. of Holy Scripture this evening. 00:04:49.019 --> 00:04:51.379 Our Scripture portion comes to us from the Gospel 00:04:51.379 --> 00:04:54.720 account according to the physician Luke, chapter 00:04:54.720 --> 00:04:57.699 9 of his Gospel account, beginning with verse 00:04:57.699 --> 00:05:02.459 51. It came to pass, when the days were near 00:05:02.459 --> 00:05:05.579 that he should be taken up, he intently set his 00:05:05.579 --> 00:05:09.000 face to go to Jerusalem, and sent messengers 00:05:09.000 --> 00:05:12.800 before his face, who went and entered into a 00:05:12.800 --> 00:05:17.790 village of Samaritans to prepare for him. They 00:05:17.790 --> 00:05:22.550 didn't receive him because he was traveling with 00:05:22.550 --> 00:05:26.709 his face directed towards Jerusalem. And when 00:05:26.709 --> 00:05:31.490 his disciples, James and John, saw this, they 00:05:31.490 --> 00:05:36.589 said, Lord, do you want us to command fire to 00:05:36.589 --> 00:05:40.009 come down from heaven and destroy them just like 00:05:40.009 --> 00:05:45.290 Elijah did? But he turned and he rebuked them. 00:05:45.800 --> 00:05:51.139 You don't know what kind of spirit you are. For 00:05:51.139 --> 00:05:53.920 the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's 00:05:53.920 --> 00:05:58.519 lives, but to save them. They went to another 00:05:58.519 --> 00:06:01.980 village. This ends reading the Holy Scripture 00:06:01.980 --> 00:06:06.180 this evening. The first step towards Jerusalem 00:06:06.180 --> 00:06:14.639 is a closed door. The face is razor -sharp flint. 00:06:15.259 --> 00:06:20.040 The road turns south, and the very first thing 00:06:20.040 --> 00:06:23.399 that happens is a village that says, you can't 00:06:23.399 --> 00:06:28.259 stay here. The road to the cross does not begin 00:06:28.259 --> 00:06:33.259 with Roman nails. It begins with ordinary people 00:06:33.259 --> 00:06:38.560 saying no. A village that looks at the Son of 00:06:38.560 --> 00:06:41.399 God walking towards his own death and decides 00:06:41.399 --> 00:06:46.540 that's not our problem. And that's not cruelty. 00:06:47.839 --> 00:06:52.000 That's just people being people. You recognize 00:06:52.000 --> 00:06:57.019 this situation because you've had more doors 00:06:57.019 --> 00:06:59.800 shut in your face than you've had mails driven 00:06:59.800 --> 00:07:04.680 into your hands. That's why he starts here. He 00:07:04.680 --> 00:07:10.540 knew that his readers, you, recognize it. At 00:07:10.540 --> 00:07:15.740 James and John, their first instinct. is to burn 00:07:15.740 --> 00:07:19.319 the place down. Lord, do you want us to call 00:07:19.319 --> 00:07:22.600 fire from heaven? They quote Elijah like it's 00:07:22.600 --> 00:07:27.660 a weapon. And they got told no. And they wanted 00:07:27.660 --> 00:07:32.439 somebody to pay for it. They still think power 00:07:32.439 --> 00:07:38.600 proves that kingdom has arrived. Jesus already 00:07:38.600 --> 00:07:43.069 knows where this road ends. Luke tells us just 00:07:43.069 --> 00:07:47.050 a few verses earlier on the mountain. When Moses 00:07:47.050 --> 00:07:51.370 and Elijah speak with him about his exodus, he's 00:07:51.370 --> 00:07:56.089 already counted the cost. And his first response 00:07:56.089 --> 00:08:00.430 to the first rejection is not fire, but a rebuke 00:08:00.430 --> 00:08:04.550 aimed at his own people. You don't know what 00:08:04.550 --> 00:08:08.670 kind of spirit you are. And when you think about 00:08:08.670 --> 00:08:12.970 it, The very first pastoral act on the road to 00:08:12.970 --> 00:08:17.009 Calvary is telling his own disciples to put the 00:08:17.009 --> 00:08:22.790 fire down. And we often read this passage and 00:08:22.790 --> 00:08:27.269 we hear it as a story of courage. Jesus decided 00:08:27.269 --> 00:08:31.209 that he would go to Jerusalem with resolve and 00:08:31.209 --> 00:08:35.090 determination, a hero walking into the fire. 00:08:35.190 --> 00:08:38.990 But let's stay grounded. in the text for just 00:08:38.990 --> 00:08:43.409 a moment longer. Just before this, just before 00:08:43.409 --> 00:08:47.350 where I began, Luke 9 and 51, Jesus takes Peter, 00:08:47.450 --> 00:08:50.629 James, and John up on a mountain. His face changes. 00:08:50.929 --> 00:08:54.389 His clothes turn white. Moses and Elijah appear 00:08:54.389 --> 00:08:57.909 and speak with him about the exodus he will accomplish 00:08:57.909 --> 00:09:02.049 in Jerusalem. And Peter panics. Remember, he 00:09:02.049 --> 00:09:04.730 tries to build shelters as if the mountain could 00:09:04.730 --> 00:09:08.409 somehow become their permanent address. Now, 00:09:08.429 --> 00:09:11.929 then they come down, and Jesus heals a boy that 00:09:11.929 --> 00:09:14.690 the disciples couldn't heal, and he predicts 00:09:14.690 --> 00:09:18.889 his own death again. And the disciples, after 00:09:18.889 --> 00:09:24.289 that, begin arguing with themselves about who 00:09:24.289 --> 00:09:29.850 among them is greatest. Mountain glory, then 00:09:29.850 --> 00:09:34.190 failed healing, a prediction of death, petty 00:09:34.190 --> 00:09:40.799 arguments about rain. And then he sets his face 00:09:40.799 --> 00:09:45.120 towards Jerusalem. He does not turn his head 00:09:45.120 --> 00:09:49.899 towards Jerusalem in the midst of triumph. He 00:09:49.899 --> 00:09:54.500 turns, knowing exactly what the men beside him 00:09:54.500 --> 00:10:00.700 cannot do, will not understand, and refuse to 00:10:00.700 --> 00:10:07.039 accept. He walks towards a cross. while the people 00:10:07.039 --> 00:10:10.600 closest to him are arguing about who's in charge. 00:10:12.220 --> 00:10:17.100 And if you think about it, from his perspective, 00:10:17.100 --> 00:10:24.639 that's loneliness. Plain and simple. And he goes 00:10:24.639 --> 00:10:29.360 anyway. So what's pulling against Jerusalem? 00:10:32.240 --> 00:10:35.940 Not cowardice. The text. Won't allow for that. 00:10:36.860 --> 00:10:41.639 Luke says he set his face intently. This is a 00:10:41.639 --> 00:10:45.179 man leaning into a headwind, not retreating from 00:10:45.179 --> 00:10:52.240 a threat. And that headwind is love. Love for 00:10:52.240 --> 00:10:56.220 the people he is about to leave. Love for the 00:10:56.220 --> 00:10:59.179 mountain where glory was visible. The road was 00:10:59.179 --> 00:11:03.860 short. No one wanted him dead. Love for Peter. 00:11:04.750 --> 00:11:08.990 who got it wrong almost every single time, but 00:11:08.990 --> 00:11:13.669 never once faked it. Love for the life he could 00:11:13.669 --> 00:11:16.730 have had if he had just stayed in the Galilee, 00:11:17.070 --> 00:11:21.629 healing folks, teaching, eating fish by the shore 00:11:21.629 --> 00:11:26.110 with his friends. That's what's pulling against 00:11:26.110 --> 00:11:31.669 Jerusalem, not the bad stuff that's coming. The 00:11:31.669 --> 00:11:37.200 good stuff, he's leaving. every good thing he'd 00:11:37.200 --> 00:11:42.240 have to walk away from. Obedience is not always 00:11:42.240 --> 00:11:47.299 leaving bad things. Sometimes it's leaving beloved 00:11:47.299 --> 00:11:55.019 things. And that's harder. Luke 9 and 28 gives 00:11:55.019 --> 00:11:58.220 us that mountain glory experience. Luke 9, 51, 00:11:58.399 --> 00:12:01.039 where we're seated this evening, gives us the 00:12:01.039 --> 00:12:04.440 beginning of the road south. And the distance 00:12:04.440 --> 00:12:08.299 between them is the distance between being loved 00:12:08.299 --> 00:12:13.919 and being killed. And he crosses it in 23 verses. 00:12:15.399 --> 00:12:20.960 We have been taught to read this story like steel. 00:12:21.919 --> 00:12:25.480 But it's closer to heartbreak. It's finally made 00:12:25.480 --> 00:12:31.159 a decision. The man who will weep at Lazarus' 00:12:31.159 --> 00:12:36.159 tomb. Sweat, blood, and Gethsemane, and ask for 00:12:36.159 --> 00:12:42.940 the cup to pass, is not fearless. He is full 00:12:42.940 --> 00:12:49.620 of love and full of fear. And love wins by a 00:12:49.620 --> 00:12:53.220 margin thin enough to require that flint edge. 00:12:54.659 --> 00:12:58.600 And here, here's where the Lenten arc converges. 00:12:59.980 --> 00:13:04.559 Moses stands on Mount Nebo, sees the land he's 00:13:04.559 --> 00:13:09.120 never going to enter. His face has been in God's 00:13:09.120 --> 00:13:12.360 presence so long, the people can't even look 00:13:12.360 --> 00:13:15.820 at him. He gets the vision, but he doesn't get 00:13:15.820 --> 00:13:21.080 the crossing. Jesus comes down from his own Nebo, 00:13:21.340 --> 00:13:25.039 the transfiguration, and his face is altered 00:13:25.039 --> 00:13:31.440 there too. Same glory, same God. But Moses looks 00:13:31.440 --> 00:13:37.220 across the Jordan and grieves. Jesus looks south 00:13:37.220 --> 00:13:43.039 towards Jerusalem and walks. Moses removed his 00:13:43.039 --> 00:13:45.419 sandals at the burning bush because the ground 00:13:45.419 --> 00:13:49.539 is holy and he needed to stop long enough to 00:13:49.539 --> 00:13:53.779 hear. Jesus puts his sandals on and walks south 00:13:53.779 --> 00:13:58.529 because he's heard. And now... Now it's time 00:13:58.529 --> 00:14:03.690 to obey. Sandals off to listen. Sandals on to 00:14:03.690 --> 00:14:08.929 obey. This has been the whole season. The wilderness 00:14:08.929 --> 00:14:12.789 was the address. We learned that. The manna fell 00:14:12.789 --> 00:14:16.590 every morning. We learned that. The bush burned 00:14:16.590 --> 00:14:20.250 where holiness was at least expected. The backside 00:14:20.250 --> 00:14:26.309 of the desert. We learned that. And now the man 00:14:26.309 --> 00:14:30.590 who taught us all of this sets his face towards 00:14:30.590 --> 00:14:33.549 the one place where the teaching will end up 00:14:33.549 --> 00:14:38.370 costing his body on a cross. And I want to show 00:14:38.370 --> 00:14:42.570 you one other thing because Luke also uses one 00:14:42.570 --> 00:14:46.889 more word that matters. One almost unnecessary 00:14:46.889 --> 00:14:53.240 word. He says, Jesus set his face because the 00:14:53.240 --> 00:14:58.360 days were near for him to be taken up. That word, 00:14:58.519 --> 00:15:04.220 analepsis, shows up nowhere else in Luke's gospel, 00:15:04.379 --> 00:15:10.460 except for it's the ascension word, which means 00:15:10.460 --> 00:15:14.379 Jesus is not just looking towards the cross when 00:15:14.379 --> 00:15:17.899 he starts walking south. He's looking through 00:15:17.899 --> 00:15:24.000 it. Jerusalem is not where he goes to die. It's 00:15:24.000 --> 00:15:29.440 where he goes to finish. The wilderness may not 00:15:29.440 --> 00:15:32.539 feel like it. It's been good to us this Lent. 00:15:32.659 --> 00:15:35.539 The bush burned, the manna fell, the ground was 00:15:35.539 --> 00:15:38.600 holy. Some of us needed it every single week. 00:15:38.720 --> 00:15:41.860 Some of us needed to hear that being tired is 00:15:41.860 --> 00:15:45.700 not the same thing as being faithless. Some of 00:15:45.700 --> 00:15:48.059 us need to know that... What felt like exile 00:15:48.059 --> 00:15:51.580 can actually be the address. But the desert can 00:15:51.580 --> 00:15:54.100 be the place where we find the most intimate 00:15:54.100 --> 00:16:01.139 provision from God. But the face is now set in 00:16:01.139 --> 00:16:06.659 this road. Well, friends, it only now goes in 00:16:06.659 --> 00:16:11.159 one direction. We're just a few days from when 00:16:11.159 --> 00:16:13.259 we're going to talk about Lazarus coming out 00:16:13.259 --> 00:16:18.299 of the tomb. 13 days from palms on the road. 00:16:18.559 --> 00:16:23.100 19 days from a table with bread and wine and 00:16:23.100 --> 00:16:27.600 a man washing his buddy's feet. 20 days from 00:16:27.600 --> 00:16:33.840 the cross. The remaining road is short. Jerusalem 00:16:33.840 --> 00:16:36.460 is getting close enough to start counting the 00:16:36.460 --> 00:16:40.700 trees. And Jesus is still walking ahead of you, 00:16:40.799 --> 00:16:44.779 not looking back. Not because he doesn't care 00:16:44.779 --> 00:16:47.840 what's behind him, but because love has made 00:16:47.840 --> 00:16:50.860 its decision and the decision doesn't need to 00:16:50.860 --> 00:16:55.820 be made again. So the question is not, will you 00:16:55.820 --> 00:16:59.580 be brave and follow? The question is actually 00:16:59.580 --> 00:17:07.500 simpler and harder. Will you choose to walk with 00:17:07.500 --> 00:17:11.200 a man who already knows what this costs and turns 00:17:11.200 --> 00:17:17.170 towards it anyway? So, may the God who set his 00:17:17.170 --> 00:17:19.369 face towards the hardest road give you grace 00:17:19.369 --> 00:17:22.650 to keep walking when the village says no and 00:17:22.650 --> 00:17:26.450 the door stays shut. May you know the difference 00:17:26.450 --> 00:17:29.789 between steel and heartbreak. Choose heartbreak 00:17:29.789 --> 00:17:33.910 every time. Because that is what love looks like 00:17:33.910 --> 00:17:37.769 when it finally makes a decision. And friends, 00:17:37.990 --> 00:17:41.849 may the road ahead short as it is. Carry you 00:17:41.849 --> 00:17:43.809 all the way to the table where the bread still 00:17:43.809 --> 00:17:47.509 smells like hope. A man who walks beside you, 00:17:47.609 --> 00:17:51.269 standing there holding a towel over his arm. 00:17:52.089 --> 00:18:04.690 Amen? Amen. Thanks, guys. Hey, maybe here's the 00:18:04.690 --> 00:18:07.730 word you need for today. That Jesus didn't set 00:18:07.730 --> 00:18:10.009 his face towards Jerusalem because the road was 00:18:10.009 --> 00:18:13.319 easy? but because love had made its decision. 00:18:13.960 --> 00:18:17.319 And maybe that means some of what feels heavy 00:18:17.319 --> 00:18:20.759 in your life right now is not proof that God 00:18:20.759 --> 00:18:23.859 has left you. Maybe it's just what faithfulness 00:18:23.859 --> 00:18:27.079 feels like when it has to keep walking through 00:18:27.079 --> 00:18:30.259 closed doors, misunderstood motives, and weary 00:18:30.259 --> 00:18:34.099 miles. So take heart. The Lord is not asking 00:18:34.099 --> 00:18:41.170 you to manufacture steel out of thin air. Tender 00:18:41.170 --> 00:18:43.549 enough to love and steady enough to keep going. 00:18:43.670 --> 00:18:48.029 That's hard mercy. But it is mercy all the same. 00:18:48.730 --> 00:18:51.170 And if something in this study gave you fresh 00:18:51.170 --> 00:18:54.109 thought today, if you heard an old text in a 00:18:54.109 --> 00:18:56.970 new way or found yourself seeing Jesus a little 00:18:56.970 --> 00:18:58.869 bit differently than you did before, throw a 00:18:58.869 --> 00:19:01.589 little like in the offering plate, just like 00:19:01.589 --> 00:19:04.900 we used to do down at the church. And if you'd 00:19:04.900 --> 00:19:07.119 like to keep walking with us all the way to Jerusalem 00:19:07.119 --> 00:19:09.559 and Resurrection Sunday, go ahead and tithe your 00:19:09.559 --> 00:19:12.539 subscribe. That way, you'll know when we start 00:19:12.539 --> 00:19:15.819 walking again. And until then, friend, be blessed.