We are going up to Jerusalem.
—Mark 10:33
Jesus turned water into wine and sinners into saints.
He empowered disciples and excoriated hypocrites.
He walked on water and patched up paralytics.
He preached all day and prayed all night.
He healed the sick and raised the dead.
But there was more that had to be done …
“We are going up to Jerusalem,” he told his disciples. It would be his last trip to the city he loved and wept over; the site of his final rejection—and his final sacrifice.
To reach our hearts he had to permit his own heart to be broken.
To rescue us from death he had to permit his own death.
The mockers that hissed, “He saved others, but he can’t save himself,” had no idea how true that was.
What he did on the cross was done for us.
What put him on the cross was done by us.