Luke 9: heading to Jerusalem and to the cross

At the beginning of Luke 9 Jesus is in Galilee. He send his disciples on a mission:

1 Jesus now called the Twelve and gave them authority and power to deal with all the demons and cure diseases. He commissioned them to preach the news of God’s kingdom and heal the sick.

After, he multiplied bread and fish.
He was very famous. He asked the disciples what the crowd were saying about him, and then, he asked what the disciples thought of him. It was not too clear at that time, but Peter got that Jesus was the Messiah, the son of God.

Nowadays, we understand that the good news is all about Jesus: he is the Messiah that restore each one who trusts in him. However this message was not well developed at that time, mainly, because it was too difficult to understand the purpose of the Messiah in defeating his enemies. Who are the enemies? Everyone would say that they were the enemies of Israel (ex: the Romans), but Jesus was pointing to a greater enemy - the sin that deformed us, human beings.

We read:

22 He went on, “It is necessary that the Son of Man proceed to an ordeal of suffering, be tried and found guilty by the religious leaders, high priests, and religion scholars, be killed, and on the third day be raised up alive.”

23-27 Then he told them what they could expect for themselves: “Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You’re not in the driver’s seat—I am. Don’t run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I’ll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self. What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the real you? If any of you is embarrassed with me and the way I’m leading you, know that the Son of Man will be far more embarrassed with you when he arrives in all his splendor in company with the Father and the holy angels. This isn’t, you realize, pie in the sky by and by. Some who have taken their stand right here are going to see it happen, see with their own eyes the kingdom of God.”

Then Jesus headed to Jerusalem:

51 When it came close to the time for his Ascension, he gathered up his courage and steeled himself for the journey to Jerusalem.

At that time it was not clear why Jesus had to be killed in Jerusalem. Nowadays we understand that Jesus had to be killed to restore each one of us from the deformation caused by our own sins. The death and resurrection of Jesus is very important to each Christian. Jesus called to suffer with him, to be crucified with him. That is how we get rid of our sins.