04.02 | The Road Downwards
Matthew 20:17-34
‘And as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside, and on the way he said to them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem. And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day.”’
Matthew 20:17-19
This is the third time I’m telling you this.
As a parent, this is a familiar line. Actually, the more familiar one is This is the hundredth time I’m telling you this. But repetition of the point is often needed, if we’re honest, for all of us, until we start to actually get it.
Today’s reading begins with Jesus telling His disciples something for the third time.
He told them in Caesarea Philippi. He told them in Galilee. And now, on the road to Jerusalem, He tells them again. And He’s incredibly specific.
I will be handed over to the religious authorities. They will sentence me to death. I will be mocked, flogged, and crucified. And on the third day I will be raised again to life.
Clarity isn’t the issue here. It’s spelt out for them as clear as day.
The issue that they have, is that they’re living in the wrong paradigm of success.
Success, to them, looks like Jesus gaining increasing popularity, garnering a movement that increases in numbers, resources, and momentum, culminating in bringing political stability for the Jews, independence from the Romans, and (by now they may assume), ongoing, increasing markers of healing and deliverance and justice.
Success, in short, sounds like the road upwards.
We see it in James and John’s question. I love how they get their mum to ask Jesus, maybe thinking this might yield a better result. You’ve got to love them for trying.
Jesus calls out the heart issue that He sees in this very request. They’ve not yet learned how to see with Kingdom eyes.
The request is for recognition, power, success, fame, and glory. The road upwards.
Jesus calls them to a different path. The road that leads lower. The road that leads through increasing humility and sacrifice. The road that abandons the ways of fame and fortune, power and platform, in search of a greater treasure that is only found beyond the way of utter surrender. The road downwards.
In other words, the way of the cross.
I find that so often my daily struggles exist in this place. I want to be recognised, to be successful. I’d tell myself that I’d be quite happy with a bit more money, a more prominent career, a better seat at the table. I feel offended when my efforts are not recognised, or when others fail to meet my needs. So quickly can I turn to selfishness, pride, and the pursuits driven by the wounded ego. And yet, in this place, I also see that these thoughts are so shortsighted, devaluing the coming age and staring at my shoelaces rather than the horizon. In this place I forget the impossible measures of the Father’s love, and see that such endeavours only grows fear and drivenness in my heart, at the expense of simplicity and love. The fruit of them is anxiety and introspection, fear and isolation.
Jesus invites us to the lower road. The road of humility. The road that stops being about my comfort and my career and my wealth and my reputation, and becomes all and totally about inhabiting the will of the Father. That lives to elevate His name and the lives of those around us.
This is the difference. Jesus sees differently.
He knows the cross will be hard, but He sees the beauty of obedience as greater than the ugliness of pain.
He knows that His identity is utterly secure, but He also knows that this belovedness is not threatened even in the face of death.
He knows the cross will cost Him everything, but He sees the joy of what is to be gained as far outweighing the grief of what is lost.
Upwards or lower still?
The best seat or the servant?
Ego or obedience?
All things for my glory or all things for His?
Which road will we walk on today?
Reflect:
What priorities are guiding my heart today? The hunt for recognition? Ego? Success? Or the willing obedience into the road leading downwards unto the cause of Him.
Pray:
Father,
Sometimes my issue is not that I do not know the name of the right path,
But rather that I’m so easily distracted from it.
The noise of the world, that clamours to steal my heart from you,
Can be deafening.
So much so, that I miss your still, small voice.
I miss that my greatest freedom comes not in autonomy but in surrender
And that my greatest flourishing comes not in grabbing all things but in giving all things.
I find myself competing for recognition,
Rather than abiding in the endless love that you have for me.
Today, I choose the lower road.
‘Take my life, and let it be consecrated Lord to thee’
That this day may be mighty in obedience
And lived for the reward of the coming age.
This is the Way of my Lord.
I join His path today.
Amen.
Old Testament:
For those also reading the Old Testament this year, your additional readings are here:
Exodus 21:1-23:19 | Psalm 18:37-50