Lent | 2024
We are halfway through the season of Lent. Lent began on Ash Wednesday and continues for 40 days leading up to Easter. It is a practice that began around the 4th century as a way to prepare for the holiest days of the year. As Kate Bowler describes it,
“We are in the part of the story when Jesus is an arrow pointed straight at his own end. He will die. But first he will suffer and be betrayed; religious and political structures will conspire and conform to great evil; nothing will be peace on earth or goodwill to all humankind. No wise men and starry nights. Its misery. And it should make us pause. THAT is where we meet Jesus. We meet him on his way down…Lent is…a time when we all get a minute to tell the truth: Life is so beautiful and life is so hard. For everyone.”
The passage from Mark that Andraé read is an interesting time in the story of Jesus’ earthly life. Most of his ministry has happened. He is making his way to Jerusalem for the final time. Mark tends to tell the story in a fast pace, but there is an added sense of urgency now.
I think the disciples were feeling a LOT on this walk to Jerusalem. Different translators have described them as astonished, amazed, in awe and puzzled. The rest of the crowd is described as afraid, and overwhelmed with fear. Think about what they had just gone through. Three years of ministry with Jesus, watching the miracles, hearing the teachings, observing encounters with the spiritual elite and the socially destitute. I can only imagine what kind of whirlwind this had been. I can imagine them on this road toward Jerusalem, Jesus walking alone at the front of the entourage, a crowd of people behind them freaking out, and them looking at each other thinking what in the world is happening. I can imagine them feeling the tension of the moment, knowing that although the last few years have been life altering, Jesus has been telling them that more is coming. And then he pulls them aside and tells them for the third time that they are going to Jerusalem where he will be betrayed, humiliated, killed, and resurrected. WHAT is even happening right now.
In John’s gospel we find and important detail that Mark didn’t include. A few months prior to this, Jesus was in Jerusalem during Hanukkah, telling people that he is the Son of God. People did not like this and were about to stone him and he managed to escape. So you can imagine how they must feel as Jesus is leading them back to the place and people who were trying to kill him. And then Jesus tells the disciples that’s exactly what is going to happen.
But instead of trying to talk Jesus into changing his mind, instead of trying stop him, they just keep going with him. I think about earlier in Jesus’ ministry when he asked the twelve if they were going to leave him and Peter says “Lord, who can we go to? You have the words of eternal life.” They have made their choice. And even when they don’t understand, even when they are astonished and afraid, they keep on walking with Jesus. They are not perfect people, not by any means. The very next passage in Mark describes two disciples vying for positions of power, there are still betrayals and denials to come. But in spite of all that has happened and all that is to come, they continue to follow Jesus.
The other thing I am struck by in this passage is the determination of Jesus. He KNOWS what lies ahead for him. He tells the disciples for the third time because they haven’t believed him the last two times he told them. Isaiah prophesied about this determination “Because the Sovereign Lord helps me…I have set my face like flint.” (Isaiah 50:7)
Why was Jesus so steadfastly determined to go to the place where He had just been threatened with death? If Jesus knew—as Mark makes so very clear that He did know—that He would be going to His death, then why did He go? Why did He set His face “like a flint” to do so? The answer is simple. It was because of His great love for you and me. The writer of Hebrews puts it this way in Hebrews 12:1-2;
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
What was “the joy that was set before Him” that so motivated Him to go to where He would have to “endure the cross, scorning its shame”? That great joy was the anticipation of our reconciliation. Its us. We are his great joy.
That will never cease to shock me. And amaze me. And humble me. Jesus walked that road to Jerusalem, towards certain pain and death, with stony determination, for you and for me.
So I don’t know if there is anything to DO with this. I don’t have 5 Steps to take on the Road to Jerusalem with Jesus. We can take some time to lean into the story. Sometimes its a hard thing to sit in the truth of our belovedness. I don’t know about you, but I am not the best at asking for help and letting people help me. So putting myself in the disciples shoes, but with the privilege that they did not have of knowing how the story goes, I feel the tension and anxiety of watching Jesus walk towards the cross for me. Knowing what he is going to face. Knowing why he is going to do it. To heal my brokenness and forgive my sins. Like the disciples, I am also amazed, and astonished, and in awe.
The season of Lent can sometimes feel like a spiritual checklist. Fasting, check. Church, check. Spiritual disciplines, check. But I think the invitation of Lent is to let these practices orient our hearts and minds to the truest truth: that Christ has died, Christ has risen, and Christ will come again.
And if we will believe it, and be caught up in the wonder of it, and allow our hearts to be transformed by it, it will become the foundation to everything else we ‘do’.