Jesus Leads to Life

Mark 10:32-34 They were on their way up to Jerusalem, with Jesus leading the way, and the disciples were astonished, while those who followed were afraid. Again he took the Twelve aside and told them what was going to happen to him. 33 “We are going up to Jerusalem,” he said, “and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles, 34 who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. Three days later he will rise.”
 
LOOK carefully at this picture. Jesus is the rabbi, leading his disciples to Jerusalem. The chosen 12 disciples closely follow him. They are astonished. There is a crowd of other determined followers eager to experience the Good Shepherd’s touch. And they are afraid.
   Astonishment and fear are the responses of each person who knows Jesus is walking into great danger as he approaches Jerusalem. The disciples have been resistant to Jesus’ prophecies of his suffering and death. Now they seem to understand this could happen. They are incredulous Jesus would go to Jerusalem to suffer, to die. The other followers knew the Sanhedrin’s and the Roman’s fearful power to destroy any voice that opposed them. They have appropriate fear for the Master Teacher.
   Jesus, of course, was confident in his purpose. He is the astonishing Son of Man, who has the power, authority, love and might to encounter all opposition. His victory can only come when he confronts the enemy. With a holy decree from eternity past, the Son of Man announces the immediate future will happen under his will: “We are going up to Jerusalem…the Son of Man will be betrayed…They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles, who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. Three days later he will rise.”
   Jesus does not gloss over the terror that awaits him. After all, he, the Living Word, has written it. Isaiah 53:4 Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
   Isaiah spoke the prophecies as if it had happened. In God’s mind it was done. Jesus walks to his affliction. He walks faithfully to his victory. Jesus was fearless of death because he knows he is Life.
   Fear comes to us easily, doesn’t it? Too much uncertainty from too many directions disturb our confidence. Take heart to know the one certainty that comes from one direction. Jesus is risen. He leads the way to the truth. In the Spirit’s joy, you can closely follow him with astonished exaltation. Walk in the truth. Live in the truth. Put aside your fears because you know God has written the future for his faithful: Revelation 21:5 He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 6 He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life.”