A foreigner comes to Birmingham in the fall. It seems as though everyone is wearing crimson and white or navy and orange. They say words that when put together seem to make no sense, words like “War Eagle” and “Roll Tide.” Yet, they sense that something important is happening, they just don’t know or understand what.
Perhaps the same is true for us as we approach Easter. We know its important, we just aren’t sure why the church makes Easter such a big deal.
In the week’s leading up to Easter, we are going to be looking at what happened When Christ Went to Calvary. Each week, we will see a different aspect of Christ’s battle on our behalf against sin, the devil, and death itself. Each week, we will come away with a clearer picture in our mind not only why Easter is important, but why Christ went to Calvary.
This week, we see that even though he was rejected by many, Jesus was determined and resolute on his journey to redeem us. Having met his enemy face-to-face (last Sunday’s readings), the Savior now proceeds to accomplish that which needed to be done so that the enemy might be crushed. We see Christ’s boundless love in the self-sacrificing way in which he resolutely goes up to Jerusalem, knowing what must happen to him there. His compassionate love is also directed toward those in Jerusalem who would reject him and who thus bring upon themselves their eternal destruction.