Setting Our Face Towards Hamilton

Dave Witt

When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. (Lk 9:51)

What does it mean to love a city well? I have always been taken by the phrase in Luke 9—”he set his face to go to Jerusalem.” Jesus is at the height of his popularity. He has just returned from a transfigured interaction with Moses and Elijah. Peter wanted to build monuments, but Jesus knows that it is time to begin to move towards the cross. And that meant engaging the city of Jerusalem. “Setting his face” speaks of Jesus’ clear sense of call and his determination to live out that call by embracing the city of Jerusalem.

Cities bring out the best and worst that humanity can be, amplifying the impact of these realities. The more power and influence a city has, the deeper and broader the influence it has on the culture it is at the heart of. As it is said, as the cities go, so goes the culture. Jesus understood this and he lived in ways that transformed Jerusalem. He calls us to learn from his example and set our face towards Hamilton in ways that transform our city.

As we read through the gospels we see how Jesus embraced Jerusalem. He immersed himself in the city’s realities—engaging both wealthy and poor, devout and radical, powerful and marginalized. And so we need to engage Hamilton—relating to and learning from both politicians and street involved youth, business people and recently arrived refugees, isolated seniors and Mac students. Together we must discern our calling and set our face toward living out Jesus’ way of life in our city.

For Jesus, Jerusalem was the place of death, but through death it became the place of new, indestructible life. In setting our face towards Hamilton, we too must embrace our calling to die, knowing that to whatever extent and in whatever ways we do so, God will bring deeper, more resilient, “eternal” life from such death.

Jesus did not keep Jerusalem at emotional arm’s length. He knew he would be rejected yet he continued to long for the city to turn and wept over their hard hearts (Luke13: 34-35 and 19:41). So we too need to learn to love Hamilton and long for what is best for all aspects of our city, not in a way that demands we be adored in return, but with a stubborn, prophetic love that calls forth what is best.

Out of love for Jerusalem and all it represents and influences, Jesus chooses to set his face towards the city. People try to dissuade him from his call to embrace Jerusalem. They want him to stay away out of fear or they want him to use the city to gain power. Jesus rejects these attitudes towards the city and seeks her best instead. He shows us what it looks like to seek the peace of our city.

Jesus knew what awaited him in Jerusalem. He went to confront the powers that held His people and all creation captive. Those powers were rooted in Jerusalem and by lovingly and boldly engaging that city he broke the power of sin and death for all of creation throughout time. As we prepare to celebrate the triumph of the Cross and the Empty Tomb, we can reflect on the way Jesus loved Jerusalem and learn what it means to love our city. May we set our face towards Hamilton as Jesus would, and engage her with his way of life.