Luke 9:51-56 Jesus Was Determined To Go To Jerusalem

When the days were approaching for His ascension, He was determined to go to Jerusalem;  and He sent messengers on ahead of Him, and they went and entered a village of the Samaritans to make arrangements for Him.  But they did not receive Him, because He was traveling toward Jerusalem.  When His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?”  But He turned and rebuked them, [and said, “You do not know what kind of spirit you are of; ⁵⁶ for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.” and they went on to another village.

One of the important distinctive of Luke’s gospel is when the text says that Jesus was “determined to go to Jerusalem.”  This is the flow and pattern of Luke’s account.  It is locationally oriented with Jesus’ early movements occurring in the northern area of Galilee climaxing in Jerusalem and the crucifixion.  Furthermore, the text says that the Samaritans did not receive Him because of His travel toward Jerusalem.  Even then, the disciples wrongly conclude that Jesus should call down fire from heaven to consume them.  But Jesus corrects them by asserting that His mission is not one of destruction, but one of redemption and salvation.

Daily Prayer:  Lord Jesus, these two thousand years later, I can clearly see Your great mercy and grace in saving a wretch like me.  I am forever grateful and I tell Your Gospel to those I see.  In Your time, the disciples had skewed vision and did not understand until Your were raised from the dead and ascended into heaven.  Even then, they were looking for a much earlier return, before they wrote the gospels to preserve their witness.  By Your grace, even now, allow us the vision to see our sinful condition and our great hope in You.  In Your holy name I pray Amen.