26th Week in Ord. Time, Tuesday – 28th September 2021 — Gospel: Lk 9,51-56
Journey of New Exodus
For Jesus, the time to take possession of Jerusalem, the city of the Messiah, Son of David has arrived. That is why Luke describes specifically of Jesus travelling to Jerusalem a number of times (9,51.53; 13,22.33; 17,11; 18,31; 19,11.28). The phrase ‘set his face’ communicates the sense of fixed determination against a strong temptation to do the opposite. This phrase recalls the statement of the servant figure in Is 50,7: “I have set my face like flint and I know I shall not be put to shame.” So this journey of Jesus is laden with tension and danger as His passion, death, resurrection and ascension lies before him. This journey to Jerusalem is a new exodus, which was anticipated in His transfiguration (9,31), which He takes up as a redemptive path to glorify the Father. A tougher and more demanding Jesus now emerges; a person on the way to a difficult destiny. Aware of what awaits him and envisaging himself as a humble servant, Jesus decisively moves forward. There is no turning back.
