Dust on the road: a reflection for Ash Wednesday

 

“When the days drew near for him to be taken up, Jesus set his face to go to Jerusalem.” (Luke 9.51)

     Destination: Jerusalem.  Once more, it’s time to take to the road.  Today is Ash Wednesday, which signals the start of the 40-day season of Lent which will prepare us to celebrate Easter.  In chapter 9 of Luke’s Gospel, Jesus embarks on a journey which will culminate in his arrival, in chapter 19, in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.  This section of Luke is called the “travel narrative”.  What gives this narrative its potency is the fact that we know Jesus is travelling towards the national capital with a dark purpose – his face “is set”.  Indeed, a few verses earlier, Jesus tried to prepare the apostles for the fate that awaits him (cf. Lk. 9.44-45).  Moving backward again, we find Jesus on a mountain-top, conversing with two prophetic figures from ancient times – Moses and Elijah (Lk. 9.28-36).  As if that’s not strange enough, the subject of their conversation is equally bizarre – they are discussing the “departure” – the Greek word is “exodus” – which Jesus must fulfill in Jerusalem (Lk. 9.31).

     Hopes of freedom.  Just a few verses before the Transfiguration episode, we find Peter’s famous “confession” that Jesus is the Messiah, Israel’s long-awaited king (Lk. 9.18-20).  Jesus’ messianic identity is re-affirmed by the voice from the cloud who declares – as the voice from heaven had declared at his baptism – “This is my Son, listen to him!” (Lk. 9.35; cf. 3.22; Ps. 2.4-7).  As in Psalm 2, the “Son of Yahweh” is Israel’s anointed king (i.e. “messiah”).  Now we see the importance of all the “Exodus” imagery – just as Moses had led the people of God from slavery to freedom, the expectation was that the Messiah – the “prophet like Moses” (cf. Dt. 18.15-19; Ac. 3.22; 7.37) – would lead Israel to freedom from their enemies.  At the time of Jesus, that, of course, meant the Romans.  Not surprisingly, at Passover time each year, as the people of God celebrated the original Exodus, the hopes and expectations of the Messiah’s victory were re-ignited.  Would this year finally be the year?

     Called to die.  Jesus has been proclaiming the nearness of the kingdom of God, casting out demons and healing the sick.  He involves the apostles in his kingdom-mission, sending them out two-by-two (cf. Lk. 9.1-6).  How exciting it must have been for the 12 to receive the very authority of Jesus to perform miraculous cures!  Once Peter “confesses” that Jesus is indeed the Messiah, Jesus’ reaction is rather strange (cf. Lk. 9.18-24).  First of all, he forbids the apostles from spreading the news; secondly, he declares that his destiny is to die at the hands of the rulers of the nation and thirdly, Jesus insists that only those who consider themselves to have been condemned to die by crucifixion are welcome to follow him:

“If any wish to come after me, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” (Lk. 9.23)

Dietrich Bonhoeffer famously said, “When Christ calls someone to follow him, he calls them to come and die”.  It took the disciples a long time to understand this, but understand it they eventually did.  You see, the kingdom of God is a bizarre, subversive reality, one that calls into question everything the human race assumes to be true regarding power, authority and what’s important.  The kingdom of God is the counter-intuitive reign of the Creator and is actually far more powerful than the greatest kingdoms that humans can build, such as the Roman Empire.  It is no coincidence that Jesus was born under the reign of Ceasar Augustus (cf. Lk. 2.1-7), the first emperor of Rome (Rome had been a republic before this and had always prided itself on having abolished its monarchy).  Roman civilization was the greatest the world had ever seen, and it was during Rome’s reign that Jesus came to establish the reign of God.  The disciples took it for granted that as Messiah, Jesus would displace the Roman empire; what they could not possibly imagine was how Jesus would do this, and what their role in God’s victory would be…    

     Jesus or you.  As Bob Dylan sang, “You gotta serve somebody”.  We are all serving a kingdom, whether it be our own or God’s.  At any given moment, I am either living a self-serving life, or a life completely dedicated to the service of the will of God.  Jesus himself had to make this choice, and he made it during the 40 days he spent in the desert following his baptism.  Satan tempted Jesus to serve himself – to feed himself, to manipulate God into demonstrating his messianic identity in spectacular fashion, even to “sell his soul” in exchange for authority over all the kingdoms of the world (Lk. 4.1-13; cf. Ps. 2.7-9; Lk. 9.25).  All legitimate authority is delegated authority, and comes from God (cf. Jn. 19.11).  All self-assigned authority is illegitimate and, in the final analysis, rebellion.  The source of Jesus’ power was his complete submission to the will of his Father (cf. Lk. 22.42).  As C.S. Lewis said, “In the end, there are two types of people – those who say to God, ‘Your will be done’ and those to whom God says, ‘Your will be done’”.  We will either serve or rebel.

     Them and us, then and now.  Our experience as Christians resembles that of the apostles in several ways.  First of all, they were expecting the imminent fulfillment of the purposes of God for his people Israel (cf. Lk. 2.25, 38; 24.21; Ac. 1.6).  We are expecting the final fulfillment of God’s purpose for his entire creation (cf. Rom. 8.18-25; Rev. 21.1-5).  Secondly, they were called by Jesus to follow him and join in the work of the kingdom and so have we been.  We have been called to an uncomfortable – and maybe dangerous – mission.  Thirdly, they didn’t understand what was going on, what Jesus’ true intention was and what kind of kingdom they were being invited to serve – and so often, neither do we.  Time after time, our commitment to Jesus is mixed up with our own pride, misguided ambition, self-serving agendas and our desire to avoid discomfort.  Finally, in spite of their short-comings, the disciples were never abandoned by Jesus, and neither will we be.  Our Lord is with us, every step of the way.  This Lent, let’s remind ourselves of the fact that we have been called to join the cause of the kingdom of God.  The new Jerusalem awaits (Rev. 21.1-5).  Let us allow our self to be crucified – once again – as we pick up the cross and stagger after our Lord, knowing that the path to true glory leads through Calvary.  Easter-life is our destiny – to be raised with Christ and to reign with him in the glory of the new creation.  But before that, our Master beckons us to take to the road.  Death awaited Jesus in Jerusalem.  Death also awaits us at the end of our journey through life.  Today, as we recommit ourselves to following Jesus along the dusty road of discipleship, we are reminded of our frailty and mortality.  Let us also recall our mission – to serve the purpose of God by obeying our tenacious Master.  Amen.