TOPIC:"The Determined Christ"
"And it came to pass, when the time was come that He should be received up, He stedfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem" (9:51)
These words of St. Luke set forth the total surrender and resolve of our Lord's soul to complete His divine mission on earth. Christ realized the holy purpose for which He was sent would only be realized by means of a cross. Such resolve by our Savior is clearly seen by the way the other translations render the words of our text. Listen to them.
The New International Version has it: "Jesus resolutely set out." The Living Bible renders it: "He moved onward...with an iron will." Williams renders it: "He firmly set His face to continue His journey." Weymouth translates it: "He proceeded with fixed purpose." There you have a divine determination! Let us now behold three distinct features in our Lord's determination.
First of all, in our Savior's determination there is a DEDICATED COMMITMENT. Hear again the words of our text: "He stedfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem." The issue of Jesus giving His life for man's sin is now settled in His mind. He is totally committed to this divine path that He must travel.
Now in the third year of His ministry, Jesus is unyieldingly and unflinchingly dedicated to carrying out the will of His Father. The sacred glow of complete obedience is clearly seen from the words of Matthew chapter 16 verse 21: "From that time on Jesus began to explain to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that He must be killed and on the third day be raised to life" (NIV).
The commitment of Jesus to do His Father's will does not mean He came to sacrifice His life for the sake of some moral principle, or to be a martyr, or that Jesus thought His ministry was a failure. Away with such thinking! I believe Jesus came to the realization of His divine mission - to be the Redeemer - early . . .