Read:  Luke 9:51-62 

"And Jesus said to him, 'Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head'" (Luke 9:58)

            As we approach Advent I'm reminded by today's passage that Jesus' entering into humanity was a total entrance. He entered into the good stuff, the bad stuff, and all the stuff in between. And since He is as present in the worst of situations, occasionally His words can bring us comfort when we face the worst of situations. Today's passage is just such an instance.

            Luke begins this passage by saying, "When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem." "He set his face to go to Jerusalem" is Luke's poetic way of saying, "And Jesus stared down death without flinching." Jerusalem is where He would be betrayed by one of His own. It is where He would be arrested, tried in a sham trial, and ultimately crucified. It is where the seeming promises and presence of God would be lost forever. So we can understand if Jesus is more than a little curt to all those He encounters in today's passage.

            To be sure, we much prefer the Jesus who makes time for everyone, who dines with sinners and sups with prostitutes. We love the Jesus who allows the little children to come to Him and then blesses them with the greatest benediction: "Unto such as these will be given the Kingdom of God." Now this is the Jesus we invite to the party. He shows up, makes everyone feel great, and even replenishes the wine so the party can continue. Today, though, we meet grim and determined Jesus. He's short and curt and unapologetic to boot. Yet we need this Jesus too. We need this Jesus who enters into the worst places of our lives and gives language to the anguish we feel there.

            "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head," He says. We have all - at one point or another - felt lost and abandoned like this. We've all felt that there was no place for us to fit in (for most of us, this probably happened in junior high. Junior high can be the worst!). And the Good News about our time in these desert wastelands of life is that Jesus Christ has been there too.

            Yet the passage is incomplete if we only take it as a lament. Oh, sure, it works well as a lament and if you're having one of those desert days or desert weeks, then cry out alongside Jesus now. There is no shame in that. But this passage is more than a lament because the Son of Man, now, does have a place to lay His head. His head is at the right hand of God the Father. Jesus has ascended to His rightful home and rightful throne. And this Good News is in this passage as well. "He set his face to go to Jerusalem" is also Luke's poetic way of saying, "And He walked faithfully into the resurrection that awaited Him." Jerusalem was not only the site of Jesus' despair; it was the site of His glorification.

            We all have times when we feel like we have no home. And, truthfully, no home, no church, no community, no team, no workplace, no civic organization will ever be home for us. Our home is only ever in Christ Jesus. And we can be home in Him because He is home at the right hand of His Father.

            Jesus enters into our lamentable condition, but He also draws us out of it and into Life with Him.