He resolutely determined to journey

Zc B.20-23; Ps 86; Lk 9,51-56
1 OCTOBER

In every moment of his life, Jesus knows what he must do, where to go, whom to meet and what to say. He is enveloped by the Holy Spirit. Wisdom, strength, counsel, intellect, knowledge, piety and fear of the Lord are perfect in Him. He listens to the command of the Holy Spirit and immediately gives it fulfilment. The Holy Spirit has put in his heart the great desire to give life for salvation and that is what He wants. He lives to listen to the Spirit of the Lord. His life does not know other purposes. This same listening to the Spirit Jesus asks of each of his disciples. Everything is from this listening.

“I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing! There is a baptism with which I must be baptized, and how great is my anguish until it is accomplished! Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. From now on a household of five will be divided, three against two and two against three; a father will be divided against his son and a son against his father, a mother against her daughter and a daughter against her mother, a mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law” (Lk 12,48-53).

Days go by, desire does not; it does not change, it is not altered, but becomes ever stronger. His thirst becomes more engaging. All his soul, his spirit and his body are thirsty for the will of the Father. The will of the Father is his sacrifice.

Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be. The Father will honour whoever serves me. “I am troubled now. Yet what should I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But it was for this purpose that I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it and will glorify it again.” The crowd there heard it and said it was thunder; but others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” Jesus answered and said, “This voice did not come for my sake but for yours. Now is the time of judgment on this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself.” He said this indicating the kind of death he would die (Jn 12,23-33).

The time has come. Jerusalem awaits its king. Even the cross awaits its king. The Holy Spirit puts in the heart of Jesus the firm decision to walk towards Jerusalem, towards the cross and He promptly obeys. We cannot resist the Spirit. He commands and Jesus obeys. He wants and Jesus performs. He speaks and Jesus listens. He desires and every desire for Jesus is a command. Arriving even with a second of delay where the Spirit sends him, means compromising the work of salvation. Jesus never missed an appointment set by the Holy Spirit. He never arrived a minute late. In a minute the story of a person changes and with it the history of humanity. Obedience is everything for Christ Jesus and it is all for the disciples.

When the days for his being taken up were fulfilled, he resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem, and he sent messengers ahead of him. On the way they entered a Samaritan village to prepare for his reception there, but they would not welcome him because the destination of his journey was Jerusalem. When the disciples James and John saw this they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to consume them?” Jesus turned and rebuked them, and they journeyed to another village.

We are redemption, saved and justified by the obedience of Jesus. Saint Paul says of Christ the Lord who became obedient until death on the cross. To obey he was annihilated, humiliated, insulted, scourged, stripped, beaten, spit and nailed on the wood of his torture. Today Jesus takes the firm decision to set out for his crucifixion. The death of the cross did not happen to Jesus. He offered himself to it freely, in full conscience and through the most pure obedience to the Holy Spirit. Doing the will of the Father is the mission of Jesus on our earth.

Mother of God, Angels and Saints, make us perfect imitators of Jesus. Give us his obedience.