The Journey to Jerusalem: Reflections from Luke for Lent - Thursday 3 March | Canterbury Cathedral

welcome to canterbury cathedral my name's tim nash i'm the cannon librarian here at the cathedral and i've chosen this evening after a couple of rainy and rather bleak days to come and sit in a little bit of sunshine in front of this glorious display of crocuses on the lawn outside the north side of the cathedral and you can also see behind me a part of our archive and library buildings sadly you can't see zoring above them but i promise that it is there the great central tower of the cathedral bell harry which which i can't manage to fit a lot onto the screen as well as as myself i guess that amongst those watching this there will be a good number probably the majority who have since the beginning of the covet restrictions and our online ministry have joined us in the evenings as the canons have offered at different times different forms of worship and reflection usually following some kind of theme we've taken a break for a few weeks but today i'm beginning a new series that we hope will help your journey through lent towards holy week and easter we're calling it journeying to jerusalem and we're going to use luke's gospel luke casts the central section of his gospel as a long journey that jesus makes to jerusalem and we're going to use some of the stories from that narrative from roughly chapter 9 through to chapter 19 to offer you these reflections so let me read the beginning of this journey this is luke chapter 9 from verses 51 to the end [Music] when the days drew near for jesus to be taken up he set his face to go to jerusalem and he sent messengers ahead of him on their way they entered a village of the samaritans to make ready for him but they did not receive him because his face was set towards jerusalem when his disciples james and john saw it they said lord do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them but he turned and rebuked them then they went on to another village and as they were going along the road someone said to him i will follow you wherever you go and jesus said to him foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head to another he said follow me but he said lord first let me go and bury my father but jesus said to him let the dead bury their own dead but as for you go and proclaim the kingdom of god another said i will follow you lord but let me first say farewell to those at my home jesus said to him no one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of god this is the beginning of this section of jesus journey to jerusalem there's no great coherence to it as we follow it through there are just occasionally reminders that this is where jesus is heading but the material within these chapters is very diverse it contains parables and and actions and and and teaching and scholars have in the way that scholars do have wrestled to try to make sense of of the journey to jerusalem for now all i would want to point to is the way in which we're familiar with the notion of journey as a metaphor above all as a metaphor for life we make our own journey each in his or her distinctive way through life and also the metaphor of lent as a journey a journey towards holy week good friday and easter a journey in time if you like rather than a journey of distance and what i'd like us to note for our first reflection is this phrase which luke repeats twice that jesus sets his face it's an interesting phrase isn't it he's perhaps reflecting the old testament scriptures in ezekiel chapter 21 at the beginning the lord instructs the prophet mortal set your face toward jerusalem as ezekiel prophesies against it and perhaps luke is picking up on various old testament uses of the same phrase but what it implies is is it not a sense of purpose a sense of commitment a sense of determination a sense of having embarked on something that jesus in this case is not going to give up on his face is set his mind if you like is made up and that sense is echoed in these little dialogues that we've just read with potential disciples potential followers jesus is commending to them the same kind of determination of commitment not letting anything else getting not letting anything else get in the way that he himself is undertaking by that setting his face towards jerusalem and the lord graciously asks us to do nothing more than he himself is willing to accompany us in and as we journey to through lent we rejoice that the lord is with us now as i've said jesus face is set but at the same time we go on to read as as we will together if you follow us through this series a whole diverse range of things that jesus says and does as he makes that journey so so the fact that his face is set doesn't rule out flexibility doesn't rule out the fact that he has to get on with his life as he journeys towards jerusalem and he does so by interacting in all kinds of ways with the people that he meets we know that his face is set from time to time for example in chapter 17 verse 11 we're reminded of it as he journeyed onwards to jerusalem but life goes on and so we have that sense of of a face that's set in a particular direction alongside the living of life as as it happens as different things come our way the things we've planned and the things that perhaps we haven't planned and of course it's that same kind of journey that lent is for us i think for many of us as we begin lent there is a sense of setting our face in a particular direction and that direction is often marked by particular disciplines we might be giving something up we might be taking something on we might be doing some some some things that we that are different from our normal pattern of life but we know that as we make that journey towards easter life will continue and i think it's an encouragement to recognize as we begin to look at this section of luke that this is exactly what jesus does yes he set his face in a particular direction believing that that is god's direction for his life that god is calling him in particular ways but at the same time he is ready in in the course of that journey to offer god's love god's challenge god's direction to those whom he meets as he makes the journey and so this lent as we journey together with jesus towards jerusalem may we manage to find a way both of keeping our lenten journey fresh in our minds having our face as it were set towards particular goals while at the same time be being ready to live life as god calls us to live it particularly in our interactions with those with whom our lives are shared and so as we begin to make that journey just two prayers first of all a very familiar one the prayer of ash wednesday that for many of us is an accompaniment throughout the period of lent and then a different rather more unfamiliar one that perhaps reminds us of the crocuses behind me here and reminds us of the fact that lent is always accompanied by spring so let us pray almighty and everlasting god you hate nothing that you have made and forgive the sins of all those who are penitent create and make in us new and contrite hearts that we worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness may receive from you the god of all mercy perfect remission and forgiveness through jesus christ our lord amen lord god with lent we approach the springtime of the year when the face of the earth is renewed and life emerges out of death we pray that this season of lent may be a veritable spring time for our souls so that our lives quickened by the breath of the spirit and warmed by the sunshine of your love may bear abundant fruit and be made radiant with the beauty of holiness through jesus christ our lord amen and so as we make our journey through lent together together with jesus and with a multitude of saints may the blessing of the living god father son and holy spirit be with us on our travels this day and always amen

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Length: 12min 46sec (766 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 03 2022