“Setting Your Face”

Scripture:  Luke 9: 51-56

    One of the profound memories of my first position as an ordained pastor was while serving a church in Bradenton, Florida.  The organist was a woman named Ruth Miller.  Ruth was a determined woman who had silver white hair.  She was in her 70’s and had played the organ for centuries, so it seemed.  The choir director had resigned and Ruth was leading the choir during the interim period, where we were searching for a new music director.  Well we were trying out a new candidate who was a little bit younger than Ruth.  He offered his services in leading the hymns by facing the congregation and waving his arms madly in order for everyone one to see and keep pace with his direction.  He probably was a former Baptist because I rarely see anyone leading hymn singing in a Presbyterian Church.  Well the worship committee thought they’d give it a try.

   The director stood in front of the choir and faced the congregation trying to lead the hymn.  In the meantime Ruth took a dim view of someone else horning in on her turf.  As the director attempted to lead the choir and congregation, Ruth played the hymn at whatever pace she so desired.  When he tried to position himself in front of her so she could see him, she would turn her head, pretending he wasn’t there, and played the hymn at her own tempo.  She set her face in the opposite direction because she was determined to play the hymn according to her standards.

   This is the image I see of Jesus in Luke’s Gospel when he “set his face to go to Jerusalem.”  His disciples were all a twitter.  They knew there was danger in Jerusalem.  They knew he had enemies with some of the scribes and Pharisees.  They knew that the Romans would be glad to squelch the uprising disturbance of some miss-lead, wild-eyes, radical prophet.  Why Herod had already beheaded John the Baptist for creating a disturbance.  Jerusalem was a dangerous place and yet Jesus knew he had to go there.

   Why?  I don’t know fully why.  It says “the days drew near for him to be taken up.”  Taken where?  Taken to the court royal where servants would feed and cloth him with the finest wines and delicacies?  Have him dressed in the finest robes and court attire?  I think not.  Maybe the days drew near for him to be led by God to follow his destiny … to follow the purpose for his ministry and mission to the world. 

   And so Jesus set his face to go to the place where God was leading him.  Yes, it was dangerous.  Yes, it was risky.  Yes, there were obstacles.  Why even a Samaritan village would not accept him.  He was too Jewish for their taste and they were looking for someone who leaned more towards their tradition.  Jerusalem was not their territory.  It was not their town.

   And yet this is where Jesus must go, even if a stumbling bumbling group of Samaritans turned him away.  “Shall we blast ‘em off the face of the earth,” James and John suggest?  Their nicknames were the sons of thunder.  You can imagine how they got their names.  Jesus says, “no,” to such a violent solution.  “You guys know that’s not my way.  And if you think it’s God’s way, I’m telling you right now, your wrong.”

   So he makes his way to Jerusalem in spite of all the obstacles … in spite of all the dangers … the lions and tigers and bears – O My.  He sets his face to go to Jerusalem because it is God’s leading in his life.  To be welcomed with open arms  … to be betrayed, taken into captivity and beaten, tried and crucified.  What a lonely road to go.  And yet nothing could deter him from his path.

   So that’s what we do during Lent.  We mark ourselves with Jesus as folks who have a destiny:  A leading from the spirit of God that we are determined to follow.  We are marked with ashes to confirm that we are creatures of dust.  And that from dust we were made and filled with the breath of life, and to dust we shall return with the gift of eternal life.  Our destiny is set before us.  Shall we fight till the end that we have eternity in sight?  Shall we set our face as well knowing that we are under the protection and care of a merciful Savior … That because of his sacrifice we have a pass into the eternal city of everlasting life.

   Let us take a moment to prepare ourselves for this Lenten season.  For some it may be giving up a certain delight like chocolate or a favorite drink or a lunch or particular luxury.  And when we have that craving, we remember that there is the one who sacrificed for us.  For some it will be adding a special prayer time or devotion or walk in the part or visit to a nursing home or relative or friend each day or week.  For some it will be …. Who knows?  You come up with your own remembrance.  That we encroach upon this journey knowing for sure that our past is but grains of sand and our future is lifted up into the stars of eternity.

Dr. Sheppard Lawrence

Covenant Presbyterian Church

Gainesville, FL