Pivotal
Every part of Holy Scripture, being divinely inspired and infallible and inerrant, is equally important. But some passages of Scripture may be regarded as especially significant and pivotal given what they reveal to us. We’re well acquainted with John 3:16 for example, but I’m betting not many of us can quote John 3:15 off the top of our heads.
I consider this week’s Gospel reading from Luke 9, like John 3:16, to be one of these especially important and pivotal texts for two reasons:
For one, it definitively and emphatically answers a question that’s been thus far unanswered in Luke. A question I consider to be the most important eternally existential question that can be asked.
And two, it clearly reveals—despite prevailing assumptions—what kind of Messiah Jesus would be and how he would go about accomplishing the work he’d set out to do.
