Day 306: On the Road to Jerusalem (Luke 19:11)

¹¹ As they heard these things, he proceeded to tell a parable, because he was near to Jerusalem… (Luke 19:11, ESV)

Through the Bible: Luke 19

In JRR Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, the old hobbit Bilbo Baggins cautions his nephew Frodo about the perils of setting one’s foot on a path:

It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.

Jesus was fully aware of where His road would lead. Long before Palm Sunday, Luke introduces a phrase that becomes the metronome for the rest of his story:

“When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.”
—Luke 9:51

From that moment on, the rest of Luke’s Gospel becomes a road story. The mood shifts from curiosity to calling, from wonder to weight. Jesus is no longer wandering through Galilee; He’s walking with purpose toward His own suffering, death, and resurrection.

And Luke never lets us forget it. He keeps dropping trail markers along the way:

• “On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee.” (17:11)
• “As he drew near to Jericho…” (18:35)
• “When he had said these things, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.” (19:28)

Every line builds tension. Every step brings Jesus closer to the place where love and justice will collide.

• It’s no accident that so many of Luke’s most memorable moments happen on the road.
• The Good Samaritan stoops beside a man left for dead on the road (Luke 10).
• Ten lepers cry out for mercy on the road (Luke 17).
• A blind man receives sight on the road (Luke 18).
• And after the resurrection, two discouraged disciples meet the risen Christ on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24).

For Luke, the road isn’t just geography—it’s discipleship. Following Jesus means movement. It’s pilgrimage. It’s obedience one step at a time, even when the destination leads through a cross.

When Jesus set His face toward Jerusalem, He wasn’t just heading to a city. He was heading to a confrontation—with sin, with death, with everything that separates us from God. And He walked there willingly.

Luke’s road narrative has a heartbeat. You can feel it quicken as Jesus draws near to the city. The parables get sharper. The warnings more urgent. The compassion deeper. The time for curiosity is over; the time for commitment has come.

Discipleship still feels like that. It’s not a stationary faith. It’s motion, pilgrimage, a long obedience in the same direction. And just as the Lord set His face toward Jerusalem, He invites us to set our faces toward Him.

If you’ve been feeling restless lately—if your faith feels like movement without a map—take heart. You’re not lost. You’re simply on the road to Jerusalem, following the Savior who walked it first.

But make no mistake. It is a dangerous business to step on to that road with Jesus. As Bonhoeffer said, when Jesus calls a man, he bids him come and die. That’s why Jesus made it clear there was a cost to discipleship:

²³ And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. ²⁴ For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.

(Luke 9:23–24)

The call of discipleship is to walk with Jesus on the road to Jerusalem. It will take you through Jericho, where Jesus stopped for a blind man and called Zacchaeus out of a tree. There will be a day where the road is covered with palm branches and the cloaks of people shouting “Hosanna.” There will be another day when it is dappled with drops of blood and sweat, and lined with angry men shouting “Crucify!” Finally, there will be a glorious day when it will be paved with gold and leading to a throne room.

When Tolkien wrote Bilbo’s walking song, he also gave us a discipleship song. Today, as you walk with Jesus, let it echo in your heart:

The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with weary feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.
—J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

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Related Content for this Day

• Day 306: O Jerusalem, Jerusalem (Luke 19:41-43)
• Day 306: Did Zacchaeus Earn Salvation? (Luke 19:1-10)
• On the Way to Jerusalem #1: A Costly Commitment (Sermon)

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