“The Jerusalem Road”

Ash Wednesday, February 18, 2026

The Jerusalem Road… Begins in Ashes

Scripture Readings: Job 42:1-6; James 4:7-10; Luke 9:18-27

Hymns: “O Christ, You Walked the Road” #424; “The Son of God Goes Forth to War” #661;  “Let Us Ever Walk with Jesus” #685

Dear Friends in Christ,

     Grace, mercy, and peace to you, from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

     As Jesus walked in the world, preaching Good News and healing the people as He went, His road led Him always nearer and nearer to Jerusalem, “the place where prophets go to die.” (Matthew 23:37). Jesus walked the road to the cross for us, to pay the high price for our sin; and now He calls us, in our own lives, to “pick up our crosses and follow Him” (Mark 8:34). May God bless us and keep us faithful and strong as we walk the Jerusalem Road with Jesus.

     The road to Jerusalem begins in ashes, as it must. If you’ve read through the Gospels, maybe you’ve noticed that Jesus doesn’t play around. He’s direct and clear, often brutally so, about what walking with Him requires and what it will cost us. Ashes are a Biblical metaphor for sorrow over sin and repentance. To follow Jesus, the old life of sin has to be abandoned, the old life of sinning metaphorically burned. Once you begin to follow Jesus, there can be no turning back, because there will be nothing left to turn back to. If you can’t to do that, says Jesus, you’d best stay home.

     The Jerusalem road is about Abram leaving his home in Haran for a place he’d never seen. It’s about prophet Elisha burning his plow and barbequing his oxen to follow Elijah. It’s about the disciples leaving the lake and the nets and the fishing boats to follow Jesus. It’s about St. Paul leaving his promising career as a Pharisee to preach the Gospel of Christ instead. It’s about the conquistadors burning their ships on the shores of the new world, and about a raggedy band of pilgrims having the faith to leave  everything to come to wild America. Those ashes on your hand or forehead? You can go home and wash them off again if you want to; but you can’t wash off the name of Jesus once its written on your soul -- not if you want to walk the road to Jerusalem with Him.

     In our Gospel, Jesus is on the road to Jerusalem, the only place He was ever going to go, with the disciples followed along behind Him. He “resolutely set His face to go to Jerusalem,” the Scripture says, and “for the joy set before Him, He endured the cross.” And they’ve stopped along the way to pray (which is a good idea, and an essential one). And Jesus asks them, “Who do the crowds say I am?” Jesus already knew the answer to the question, but this was just the opening salvo to open a deeper discussion with them.

     They answered, “Some say John the Baptist, somehow reincarnate; and some say prophet Elijah, come back to earth again; and some say You’re one of ancient prophets come back to life.” None of those answers come anywhere near to defining who Jesus is, or who He wants us to know He is. What Jesus is going for is, “Do you know who you’re walking this road with?”

     Jesus, going right for their hearts, makes the question personal. The question He asks is an uncomfortable one for many of us: “Who do YOU say I AM?” Never mind what the crowd says, or what world and the media says, or what your friends or your peers say; to walk the Jerusalem road, this is a question you yourself have to get right. Simon Peter gives the correct and life-saving reply: “Jesus, You are the Christ of God.” You are the Christ, the Anointed One, the world’s Messiah, the singular Savior; the One the Father promised, the one-&-only Son, walking on this road to Jerusalem. If He’s anything less, there’s no point in following Him, let alone “burning your plows” for His sake.

     “Jesus strictly warned them not to tell this to anyone.” Why not? They were still on the road; they hadn’t arrived at the destination yet; the work of salvation was not yet complete. The time to tell would come, but not now, not yet. Then Jesus told them, "The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life." Jesus knew what was going to happen at the end of the road in Jerusalem, and He was being brutally honest with His disciples about it. There is no alternate route, no plan B, no fork in road to somewhere else more palatable.

     Some of Jesus’ followers turned and left when He began to talk about this; so He turned to His disciples and asked, “Do you want to leave Me, too?” And Peter, again with the right answer said, “Lord, where else can we go? You alone have the words of eternal life.” So Jesus’ road, as it must, was always going to end in suffering, rejection, and death on a cross. And again, for the “joy of it”, the Scripture says; because He’d soon be leaving living footsteps outside His tomb, and from there His road would go on.

     Not yet for the disciples, though. They still had the valley of shadow of death to walk through; and the same is still true for us all. Our own road to heavenly Jerusalem, that we’ve been promised, also goes through hardships, suffering, pain, and death. Our ‘cross’ is more than ordinary suffering; it’s what we’ll suffer in particular for Jesus’ sake. There’s no easy way to do this, no skipping the hard part, and no hanging on to your old life if you’re hoping for a new one. The Jerusalem road ends in glory, but goes through the cross and the grave.

     Jesus, direct and honest and true, tells His disciples, and us, how it has to be. If you want to follow after Me, walk this road with Me, and be one of Mine, you must “deny yourself.” Really, Lord? That sounds tough, but it’s really just First Commandment stuff, “You shall have no other gods before Me.” Do you have other life priorities, self-interests, or another agenda apart from Christ? Burn it, and do it today. Is there anything you wouldn’t give to God if He asked you for it? Is there anything you wouldn’t do for Jesus if He asked you to? Is there any place you’d refuse to go if He asked you to go? Your cross is whatever Jesus might ask you to give up or suffer or do for His sake. You can’t have your hands full of stuff and carry a cross for Him at the same time. Self-denial isn’t easy, but Jesus never said it would be.

     Oh, dear Lord Jesus, You’re not soft-soaping this thing at all, are You? That isn’t His way; that wouldn’t help us or get us where we’re going. He says, “If you want to save your life, you’ll lose it.” This isn’t a call to martyrdom or suicide or giving your life away. The “life” Jesus is talking about is “our life as we know it.” Wanting to keep your old life, keeping Jesus on the periphery without making any real changes, just won’t do. Whatever your heart clings to, whatever you refuse to surrender to God, will slip through your fingers, and leave you holding sand.

     But losing your life for Jesus, again, isn’t strictly a matter of dying for Him (unless that’s what He should ask); it’s more about living for Him, and giving your life to serve and follow Him. It’s not so much about ashes on your forehead, as it is about J-E-S-U-S being written on your forehead and on your heart in way you live your baptized life. You can’t have the world and what it offers, and Jesus too. “What good is it for a man to gain whole world, yet forfeit his soul?” Jesus says. Jesus is being very definitive about what God wants most for us.

     Jesus cuts to the chase: “If anyone is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of Him when He comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.” What does it mean to live unashamed? It means, disciples, that when the time comes to tell, we’ll gladly and joyfully do it, even if some people down here in the valley of shadows will hate us for it. Jesus walked the Jerusalem road, knowing what it would cost Him, but also knowing what He’d win in the end. May our own walk with Him be the same.

     Jesus ends our Gospel with this curious statement: “I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God." The Kingdom of God did come in power when Jesus conquered death; I’m certain it was Resurrection He was talking about here. Ten of the twelve disciples would be there to see Jesus alive and touch Him on Easter day, and Thomas would join them one week later. The only one standing there who wouldn’t be alive to see it was Judas Iscariot, because he gave up and didn’t follow the road to its end.

     Walking the Jerusalem road with Jesus can be difficult and even dangerous, no getting around it. Jesus didn’t sugarcoat it, and I won’t either. The world, the devil, and even our family and friends will tell us we ought to quit. Whatever happens, don’t give up; this road we’re on ends in joy and life and glory. In the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Rev. Larry Sheppard, M.Div.

Trinity Lutheran Church, Packwaukee, WI

St. John’s Lutheran Church, Oxford, WI

pastorshepp@gmail.com