Journey On

Usually we think of the Pharisees as Jesus' adversaries, but one day some of them came to him concerned about his welfare. "Leave this place and go somewhere else," they warned. "Herod wants to kill you" (Luke 13:31).

This was not the first time someone in the Herod family wanted to kill the Son of God. When Jesus was born, Herod the Great ordered the murder of all boys under age two in the vicinity of Bethlehem. Three decades later Herod's son, Herod Antipas, turned out to be just as wicked as his father had been. (He was the one who beheaded John the Baptist.) Antipas had heard enough about Jesus' ability as a miracle-worker to arouse his curiosity (and his paranoia).

When the Pharisees advised Jesus to escape, the Lord answered, "Go tell that fox, I will drive out demons and heal people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal" (Luke 13:32). What a courageous response! With wry humor, the Lord compared Herod to a sly fox. Then he boldly insisted that he was going to continue his ministry in spite of Herod's threats. He would keep casting out demons and healing people, and then "on the third day" (perhaps a subtle allusion to the resurrection?) he would reach his goal. In this spiritual battle there was no foxhole where Jesus could hide. As he told one would-be follower, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head" (Luke 9:58).

"In any case," Jesus told the Pharisees, "I must keep going today and tomorrow and the next day—for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem!" (Luke 13:33). What a powerful statement of purpose! "I must keep going today . . . and tomorrow . . . and the next day—even though going to Jerusalem will mean dying there." In spite of his critics and the certain prospect of dying on the cross, the Lord was determined to keep going. The New American Standard Bible translates Jesus' words, "I must journey on."

That's how it's always been for the person who wants to do the Father's will. You have to journey on. You can't stop just because someone tries to discourage you. When the Israelites came out of Egypt, the Lord commanded Moses to record "the stages in their journey" (Numbers 33:2). Some stages of the journey lasted for days, others for years. Some stages seemed to take them nowhere, while others took them to the brink of the Promised Land. No matter. Since God was leading, they had to keep going.

Your journey of faith begins when you become a Christian, and it continues every time you learn something new from the Bible, go on a mission trip, or reach out to someone in need. You enter another stage of the journey when you graduate from college, change careers, marry, become a parent, or retire from your job. Strangely, some of the biggest steps in the journey come when you suffer—when the company downsizes, the biopsy results don't look good, your house won't sell, your body doesn't function the way it should, or your friends disappoint you.

What will you do then? Do what Jesus did. Today, tomorrow, and the next day, take another step in the direction of the Father's will. And tell that old fox, the devil, to take a hike in the opposite direction. You're going to journey on!