JOURNEY TO THE CROSS - End In Sight

What are some things we look to end?  Paying off a loan.  Running a marathon.  Buying diapers and formula.  Setting a morning alarm.  The anticipation to the end to such things is often great and when “the end” comes, we look back and wonder how we endeavored to persevere to … the end!

What would you do if you knew today was your last day on this earth?   Most likely, we would overlook the trivial things of life and do our best to make each minute a lasting moment.  Jesus knew well His time was growing short.  He knew the last time He would visit the temple, the last time He would share a meal and laugh with close friends, the last time He would have need of His dusty sandals, the last intimate conversation He would have with His disciples.  His arrest a week away, we find Jesus in the Jericho countryside but not distracted from the pilgrimage He must make up to Jerusalem. He tells His disciples, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem. And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day.” (Matthew 20:18-19)  We know the religious leaders were already plotting against The Messiah, but make no mistake – Jesus wasn’t walking into a trap!  He arrived on earth ON purpose WITH a purpose, and His journey to the cross did not begin in Jericho or Galilee or Nazareth or Bethlehem: the taste of the apple was still on Adam’s tongue when Jesus realized the journey He would make to Calvary.  Jesus always had the end in sight, and His great love [for us] that began His journey is the same great love that brought His journey to the perfect end.  Oh, what a Savior!