Moving Into Pain

Today’s text brings us to the point in Matthew’s Gospel where Jesus’ ministry will change drastically. Jesus has been walking through those sun-drenched fields of Galilee down by the beautiful, deep-blue inland sea. He has been giving new life to so many people who have responded to Him and accepted the Rule of God. People who have gone there say that there is a kind of mystical quality in this land of Galilee that is difficult to put into words. Leon Uris wrote about it in Exodus. This feeling comes to the Christian traveler undoubtedly because Galilee is the place where Jesus grew up and where the first exciting months of His ministry unfolded. We read about those first months with feelings of excitement and exhilaration. But now the scene is about to change drastically.

Luke indicates the change in the fifty-first Verse of the ninth Chapter of his Gospel. It is just like turning a corner: “As the time approached when He was…