By Doug Redford
Every spring, college basketball fans anticipate “March Madness,” the catchphrase that has been attached to the tournaments for both men and women. With that has also come the tournaments being described as “The Road to ____,” filling in the blank space with the city where each tournament will be held. In 2025, the men’s championship round was played in San Antonio, Texas; the women’s round was played in Tampa, Florida. It’s become common practice to label the championship round with the words, “The Road Ends Here.”
The beginning of what we call “Passion Week” could also be designated as “The Road to Jerusalem” for Jesus. At one point in his Gospel, Luke provides this detail about Jesus’ travels: “As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem” (Luke 9:51, New International Version). The Message paraphrase reads that Jesus “gathered up his courage and steeled himself for the journey to Jerusalem.” His arrival was celebrated with a “triumphal entry” into Jerusalem in fulfillment of prophecy— “on a colt, the foal of a donkey” (Matthew 21:4, 5; from Zechariah 9:9). When Jesus looked upon the city, Luke records that he “wept over it” (Luke 19:41). (Would he not weep over the cities of our time?)
By the end of the week, triumph had seemingly turned to tragedy as Jesus was nailed to a cross and mocked without pity by his enemies. “The Road Ends Here” appeared to be true when Jesus’ body hung lifeless from the cross. That was the end of him, a thought shared even by his followers. The men whom Jesus met as they traveled toward Emmaus told him (they did not know it was Jesus at that point), “We had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel” (Luke 24:21).
But those men came to realize that their hopes had not been dashed. The road to Jerusalem had been on God’s “GPS” since before the creation of the world (1 Peter 1:20). Because Jesus traveled that road—and the road to Calvary—he built the road to the New Jerusalem, the destiny of all his faithful followers.
Here at Communion, we remember the “tools” that Jesus used to build his road: his body (represented by the bread) and his blood (represented by the juice). Yes, Jesus’ body was broken, but by that brokenness the road to the New Jerusalem was completed and the broken bond between God and humanity was repaired.
Doug Redford has served in the preaching ministry, as an editor of adult Sunday school curriculum, and as a Bible college professor. Now retired, he continues to write and speak as opportunities arise.
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