What was Jesus thinking? Because it matters. How did he know?

Christine DiGiacomo
2 days ago
3 min read

How did Jesus know it was time for E aS t e R?

podcast: https://www.pastorwoman.net/podcast/episode/360acdc8/what-was-jesus-thinking-because-it-matters-how-did-he-know

Spring has sprung--actually, here in North Carolina, we are toggling between summer and winter temperatures...yesterday was Summer, 85 degrees and today, Winter. 'Spring? not so much. Budding trees aren't sure what to do! The stores are already discounting Easter baskets, grasses, eggs and bunnies. Frankly, I enjoy all of that--and in fact, just got a baby lop-eared bunny and three little chicks, but as a follower of Jesus, my heart turns toward the Messiah. Yes, I am thinking about Jesus, now more than ever; I find myself wondering what He was thinking about the last couple weeks of his life.

In a few days, we recognize Palm Sunday when Jesus was cheered as he entered Jerusalem, but what was Jesus thinking before that week? Luke's gospel records his travel through Jericho on his way to the Holy City which was not his usual route to Jerusalem. Get this - Jesus and the disciples were not allowed to go through a Samaritan village because his face was set on Jerusalem.1 Rejection? ugh. So the men took an alternate route to Jerusalem, as Jesus told the disciples what was to happen: “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise.”2

What ran through Jesus' mind as He knew what lay ahead and was now on his way? How did Jesus know it was time to go to Jerusalem to be arrested, tried, and crucified?

For that matter, at the beginning, how did Jesus know it was time to start his public ministry? Remember, he went out to the Jordan River for John to baptize him?3 Hmm.

For Jesus' baptism, we zoom out to look at the context - John (called the Baptist, Jesus' cousin), was preaching a message of repentance in the desert, preparing the way, as had been prophesied.4 Simply, "As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased ."5

This was Jesus' inauguration day.

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted..." 40 days and nights of fasting.6 Friend, if you have not seen it, the Judean Desert is desolate, extreme, and austere.

->4-minute clip showing what the wilderness was like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cEEXCcGdVw

So....how did Jesus know when to go and where to go?

Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit,7 Matthew informs us.

How did the Spirit lead him, how did he discern the Father's will?

Jesus prayed.

The gospels tell us that Jesus withdrew often to pray. He knew Isaiah's words,

your attention, please

you should know

"Whether you turn to the right or to the left, you will hear a voice behind you saying, 'This is the way, walk in it.'"8 Jesus looked for that voice.

~>Jesus made prayer a priority.

~>Jesus prayed regularly, and

~>listened for the direction of his Father's voice

which he then heeded. Jesus obeyed the Father, embodying devotion, desire and discipline - all by making prayer a priority.

To the keen reader of the gospels, throughout Jesus' life, there is a sense of an advancing timepiece, moving toward a climax of epic proportions.

And when the fullness of time came, Jesus began his final journey to Jerusalem; that is where we find ourselves right now. [I am gripped by this day on the historic calendar]

Ostensibly, Jesus went to celebrate Passover, but we know the Father had much more in mind than a Passover observance, more than a Passover meal.

Jesus knew the Father's will because he prayed regularly, and

he listened for his Father's voice. Ohhhh, yes. I want that to be true of me too - that I pray, and that I listen...in these days before Easter and all year long.

Will you pray and also, listen?

Listen, please: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DJ3NjA9ZjA&list=RD4DJ3NjA9ZjA&start_radio=1

Christine