A Journey Towards Our Destiny: The Jerusalem Road Series

A Journey Towards Our Destiny:

The Jerusalem Road

Matthew 21:1-11

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As we begin our journey with Jesus towards Easter and the Resurrection, we’ll be taking two roads that Jesus journeyed upon as He approached His destiny, a destiny that was decided before time and the foundations of the earth. They are the roads that led Him not only to His death, but also to His resurrection.

Today we’ll be following Jesus’s journey towards Jerusalem, hence, part of our message title, “The Jerusalem Road.”

Last week, the stars of Hollywood came out in force at the 96th Academy Awards, or what many call, “The Oscars.” It’s the time when all the stars make their grand entrances on the Red Carpet. But they don’t come in old VW vans wearing jeans and a T-shirt. Instead, they come in chauffeur driven limousines dressed to the nines.

Now, given an opportunity to make a entrance, most would choose the grander style over that of mediocrity or poverty. We would choose the blazing white stallion over the small grey donkey. And it was such a grand entrance the disciples were hoping that Jesus would make into Jerusalem.

They were hoping Jesus would make a grand and glorious entrance on a blazing white stallion, sort of like the Lone Ranger, with a cloud of dust and hearty “Hi O Silver.” They were hoping Jesus would come into Jerusalem and kick out the bad guys, which in this case were the Romans.

That’s the Jesus they wanted, and that’s the type of Jesus most of us want today. But Jesus entered Jerusalem differently, and on a road that isn’t easily followed. In fact, it’s a road that not many, if any, would choose for themselves. It’s a road that leads to the Father’s will and our destiny, which means that it’s a road that leads to death. (And while it sounds morbid, it isn’t, and we’ll get to this in just a second.)

Jesus knew all of this and said the same to His disciples.

“We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will turn him over to the Gentiles to be mocked, and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life.” (Matthew 20:18-19 NIV)

Yet even knowing this, and the immeasurable amount of pain and suffering He would endure, Jesus still went. There was a deep determination on Jesus’s part to travel upon this road to Jerusalem and to His death. We see this in Luke’s account.

“Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem.” (Luke 9:51 NKJV)

In the same way we need to set our faces and determine within our hearts to follow this road that leads not only to our death, that is, death to our wants, desires, and self-centeredness, but also a road that leads to our own personal resurrection, especially knowing we are now new creations in Christ Jesus, and a road that will lead to eternal life in heaven once this life is over. Therefore, it’s a road worth traveling.

As Jesus entered Jerusalem, it was the time of the Jewish feast of Passover, one of the three feasts God commanded for the Jews to celebrate in Jerusalem where they would bring their sacrifices to the Temple. It was the celebration of thanksgiving of God’s mighty hand in delivering the Jews from their Egyptian bondage.

By this time, the people had heard of Jesus; heard of His great wisdom and how He had put to shame the religious leaders. They also heard of His healings and miracles. They heard how he fed five thousand with just a few fishes and a couple loaves of bread, and how He raised Lazarus from the dead. So, they lined the streets crying out, “Hosanna to the son of David,” which can be translated, “Messiah, save us now.”

But what the people wanted was diametrically opposed to what the Lord was doing. Jesus didn’t enter that day to set up His kingdom; rather it was to die to save the people, not from Roman oppression, but from their captivity to sin and death.

And so, the Jerusalem Road for Jesus was the beginning of the end of His earthly life. And although it led to the Cross and His death, it was also a road that would lead to His resurrection and heaven with Him sitting at the right hand of the Father.

And when we take this Jerusalem Road, it will not only lead to our deaths, that is, death to self, but also physical death, as we see martyrdom on the rise, but it will also lead to our resurrection and a brand-new life with God in heaven as our eternal destiny.