Set Towards Jerusalem

Luke 9:51-56 (ESV)
When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. [52] And he sent messengers ahead of him, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans, to make preparations for him. [53] But the people did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. [54] And when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, "Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?" [55] But he turned and rebuked them. [56] And they went on to another village.

But the people did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. There is more here than the fact that the Samaritans had no use for Jerusalem. It wasn’t merely an rivalry between the temple in Jerusalem and the highplaces of Samaria that is going on here. The people know what will happen to Jesus when he enters Jerusalem. They can’t imagine a messiah doing that to himself. They can’t fathom why he should go to the cross. Jesus is rejecting every earthly idol you could possibly think of. He is going to Jerusalem. He is going to die. He is not rallying the Samaritans to him, or the people of Galilee. He is not looking for war, not earthly war. He is set toward Jerusalem, and this will mean pain, this will mean death. It perhaps looks as if he is giving up before he even gets started. But his face is set, for it has to be in the city of peace that peace between God and man will be accomplished by the death of Jesus for the sins of the world.