As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. (Luke 9:51)

The season of Lent begins already next week with Ash Wednesday. And so starting next week our devotions are also going to jump over to Luke’s account of Holy Week, starting with Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem in chapter 19.

But Jesus starts out for Jerusalem much earlier in Luke’s gospel, already way back here in chapter 9. It’s a simple little throwaway sentence that starts it off. “As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.” A simple statement on the face of it, but it marks a hard pivot in the Gospel of Luke that shapes the character of everything and everyone that follows.

In the chapters we’ve just come from, we discover how Jesus is the Son of God in ever increasing dimensions. Just before this in chapter 9, in a couple of the sections we skipped, we see Jesus reveal the heights of His glory in the feeding of the 5,000 and being transfigured in bright splendor on the mountaintop. But Jesus had also begun to reveal the depths of His suffering just before this too: predicting His impending death, twice.

When Luke says that Jesus has “resolutely set out for Jerusalem,” those of us who know how the story goes know that “Jerusalem” really means the cross and Jesus’ death.

And so it’s here in Luke, just a third of the way through, that Jesus resolutely turns His face toward his purposes in death, resurrection, and ascension. The depths of suffering, the heights of glory. And everything that follows is done, said, and written in light of this journey to the cross.

Immediately after these verses, in fact, Jesus will have some hard words for all those who would seek to follow Him in this journey. Words like, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” Jesus says this now as one who has firmly put His hand to the plow. Jesus is resolute. He is headed for Jerusalem.

We know who Jesus is now. The question, is are we resolute in our desire to follow him? He’s headed to Jerusalem. There is no way to follow him there that does not involve taking up our cross and facing our own death. So are you resolute? Ready to follow, daily?

For those who do resolutely take up their cross and follow, the promise of Jesus’ gift of life waits just on the other side.