Friends of mine, Bob
and Michelle, recently returned from a trip to Israel. At the same time they
were there, two pastors I know – Max and Scott – also were touring the Holy
Land. I thoroughly enjoyed the trip these four pilgrims made because they
posted many pictures of the sights they encountered. Every time I perused my Facebook news-feed, I saw photos of places I long had only imagined – the Mount of the
Beatitudes, Jacob’s Well, the Garden of Gethsemane, the Via Dolorosa, the Garden
Tomb and more. I had fun following the travels of these four friends across Israel
to Jerusalem. But following their journey on a laptop from my La-Z-Boy recliner
is no substitute for the powerful experience of visiting Jerusalem in person.
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| A View of Jerusalem - by Bob Irving |
We soon will reach Holy
Week, when we remember the most famous, and most world-changing trip to
Jerusalem ever made. The Gospel of Luke says that “[w]hen the days drew near
for him to be taken up, [Jesus] set his face to go to Jerusalem.” Luke 9:51 (NRSV). As my father once wrote:
Jesus knew what the
end would be if he went, and yet he decided to go. He decided to take the trip
to Jerusalem, to the upper room, to Gethsemane, to the trials, to the Via
Dolorosa, to the cross. For ten chapters in Luke’s Gospel (from Chapter 9 to Chapter
19), Jesus is en route to Jerusalem, aware that his passion awaits him. It is
not only a physical trip from one place to another, but also a spiritual trip –
a movement toward final, irreversible commitment to his Father’s will, an acceptance
of the cup of suffering and death for the sins of the world.
“This is a stupid trip,”
said his disciples repeatedly. They knew what would happen if Jesus went to
Jerusalem. Again and again they begged him to stay home in Galilee where he was
safe and at peace among friends and relatives who would pat him on the back and
tell him what a fine preacher he was. And again and again Jesus told them that
his end was suffering and death, and that he must go, but they did not understand.
They followed him to Jerusalem because they loved him, and perhaps too because
they still hoped against hope that he might exert some earthly authority. They
followed, but not because they understood the meaning of his trip.
In countless ways, I
dare to suggest, we too say that this is a stupid trip. We say it by the
way we live our own lives. We seek comfort; we avoid conflict; we disdain sacrifice. We claim to be followers of Jesus Christ, and yet this is one trip
on which we do not want to follow him.
Actually, the decision
of whether or not to take this trip with Jesus centers around these questions:
What is the real world like, and what does God want me to do about it? Jesus
discovered that the real world was not just happy times in Galilee with friends
and neighbors and dying of old age. He discovered that there was a Roman Empire
and a whole world ripe to receive the message of the cross – a whole world that
needed his service and suffering. He discovered that he was God’s man to do the
job. To fulfill his own truth, to accomplish the purpose for which God gave him
life, he must make the trip. Jesus wasn't stupid or foolhardy. He recognized
the dangers and the cost involved. But he also recognized that he would be less
than he was meant to be if he stayed in Galilee.
The real world is
bigger than my back yard. The real world has more needs than those that arise
from my family and friends. We all have our own ways of drawing our world as
small as possible. To one person I must say that the real world is more than a comfortable chair, a can of beer and a football game. To another I must say that
reality extends far beyond your children. To still another I must appeal for
him to recognize that one cause, no matter how worthy, is not enough. And to another
that life is more than your job or your daily routine. You alone know what
parts of the real world your self-imposed blinders shut out. But allow yourself
to see it or not, the reality – and often the ugliness – of the real world is
there, and you are called to go there, to make the trip from Galilee to
Jerusalem, from your artificially contrived comfort within narrow boundaries to
the whole, real world where God calls you to live and serve.
In your Jerusalem there
are so many lonely and neglected people. There is gross injustice. There is
hunger of body and spirit. There is illness and suffering. There is hatred and
violence. There is crime and war. There is pollution and rape of the
environment. There is a whole creation broken in bits by man’s sin, waiting
like Humpty Dumpty to be put back together again. This is your real world. This
is the destination of your trip – your Jerusalem. And if you think about it,
you will know what it all means specifically for you.
Real life, human life
in the highest sense of that term, cannot be lived in your closet. Real life
cannot be lived where you have drawn your shades to hide the world’s ugliness
from your eyes. Real life is in the shape of a cross – a willing acceptance
that we will suffer if need be to put things right in this world in His name.
As Jesus travels to
Jerusalem, am I traveling with him, or am I just watching on my laptop from my
recliner? Will I follow Jesus to Jerusalem, or just follow him on Facebook?
From: "The Trip to Jerusalem"
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