The Model of Jesus Christ

For any Christians out there, here is a pretty profound statement: Jesus was a pilgrim.  He was constantly on the move; his life story is presented in the context of one sacred journey after the other.  Take the following for example:

• Joseph and Mary, Jesus' parents, travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem while Jesus was still in the womb.  (Luke 2:4-5) This was something that had been legislated by the Roman Emperor, but it also represented a sacred journey, because they were returning to a place of historical significance.  It was a place that tapped into the story of the Old Testament, and into the story of the kings of Israel. It was a place that sparked a hope for the redemption of Israel from the rule of the Romans.  It was a place to which the bloodline of the family was linked.  It was a place that was made all the more sacred in that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was born there.
• When Jesus was 12 years old, he travelled with his parents from Nazareth to Jerusalem, as part of the Jewish custom to celebrate the Passover (Luke 2:41-49).  This was a significant pilgrimage that all able-bodied Jews participated in, because it recalled an ancient story of a time when God rescued their ancestors from slavery and oppression in Egypt.  It was a feast that recognized the sovereignty of God and his faithfulness in delivering his chosen people.  Throughout the rest of his life, Jesus would participate annually in this Jewish pilgrimage tradition of sacred remembrance.
• Once he began his ministry, Jesus spent his days wandering the Galilean countryside, healing, teaching and preaching to the huge crowds that followed after him (e.g. Matt. 9:15). It was on these pilgrim journeys that Jesus declared the coming of the new and revolutionary kingdom of God. In many ways this pilgrim-wanderer lifestyle was counter-intuitive.  Jesus could have set up shop in a large town and made a fortune through his teaching and miracles.  Instead he made himself hard to find and the crowds were forced to follow him. He himself said "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head." (Matthew 8:18) 

Jesus' final pilgrimage was certainly his most difficult.  He was approximately 33 years old, and he was travelling to Jerusalem, once again, to celebrate the Passover.  Only this time Jesus knew that he was also walking along the road to his death (see Mark 10:32-34).  He knew that if he took part in this pilgrimage, he would be betrayed at the end of it and handed over to his enemies to be tortured and killed.  Despite all of this foreboding knowledge, Jesus still decided to take the journey.  Why?

The will of God meant a lot to Jesus. It was how he prayed: "Your kingdom come, your will be done" (Matthew 6:10), and "not my will, but yours be done" (Luke 22:42b). He knew God had a plan for the liberation and redemption of the world, and that his own life would be part of bringing that to pass.  He knew that "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life" (John 3:16).  He knew that this would require a sacrifice of his own life: "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many" (Mark 10:45).  He knew what God would require of him if he took this journey and he still chose to go.  Jesus is perhaps the most poignant example we have of submission and obedience in the Bible.  Even though he knew that this final pilgrimage was going to result in his death, he wanted God's will to be done first.  The fate of the world mattered more to Jesus than his own life.

In previous entries mention has been made of the suffering that is sometimes experienced in pilgrimage.  Jesus takes the idea of faith and obedience in the face of suffering to a whole other level.  What is more, he calls those who would follow him, to follow his example as well: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me" (Luke 9:23).  A lot of Christians have interpreted this to represent in an inward journey that we take even while we are at work, or at school, or with our families, but sometimes this can refer to an actual physical journey as well. If and when you receive the call to take the journey are you going to be willing to leave everything behind, in search for the will of God?

In his book called Go Abraham Go, Earl P. McQuay presents 3 "road hazards" that nearly prevented Abraham from following God.  They were delay, difficulty and diversion.  I thought these hazards were really relevant to our own pilgrimage journeys.  There are times when we are too reluctant, or we get too busy, to set out on the journey so we choose to delay instead.  Then, when we finally get on the journey we experience difficulty, which makes us want to give up.  Sometimes we give in to diversion, which distracts us from the purpose for our journey and can lead us down a dead end.  Despite all of this, the important thing is that we still get up, brush ourselves off, and choose to continue with the journey.  Let us take the example of Jesus' obedience to heart, because pilgrimage is ultimately not going to be about our own will, but about will of God.