unlike any other man

Word came to Jesus: the king was plotting to kill him. If someone sought to hurt me or a member of my family I'd take action. The goal would be simple: keep safe. When news of King Herod's plot reached Jesus he didn't prepare for a fight or take flight Luke 13:31. Jesus came to die as much as to live--the thing was he wasn't meant to die quite yet. Luke 13:32

Jesus' aim in life is substantially different than the goals people know by nature. By nature, when healthy, we seek to preserve our lives. We try to live long and comfortable. We dream of going on for a long time. Many seek ways to preserve themselves or a legacy of themselves, Ernst Becker argued well in The Denial of Death, after death here in this earth. But Jesus came for the cross. Along the way He brought new life, healing, and truth to many people. He taught so much by example about how to live on this earth. But that wasn't the point. The end of our faith is not found on this earth. Paul told the Philipians as much in Philipians 3:20-4:1. The end of our faith is life with Christ.

It's an understatement to say that Jesus came teaching us how to live. As much as Jesus came to die as much if not more so than he lived to heal and transform giving us an example of how to live he came to die for us. He came teaching us how to die that we might live in him. Jesus came to give everything—to be totally depleted Luke 13:33. He came teaching us the truth that by dying in we might live both now today and always in Christ. Jerusalem was Jesus' goal—the city where he would meet his end; rejected like so many other prophets before Luke 13:34. He knew the end was coming in Jerusalem and He wouldn't go there until the very last moment Luke 13:35. Praise be that Jesus came to die and rise. Peace to you, John