Three Months to Live?

What would you do if you knew you had three months to live? Would you spend more time with family and friends? Resolve conflicts, make amends for mistakes? Check off the remaining items on your bucket list?

As we near the end of our journey through Lent, we often focus on Jesus’ final week—Palm Sunday, the Last Supper, and Good Friday. But this year, I began to wonder, “What did Jesus do just before he entered Jerusalem on a donkey?” That question led me to a lesser-known season of his ministry. Bible scholars sometimes call it the “Perean ministry.” Ever hear of that?

Jesus’ Final Three Months

Throughout Jesus’ ministry, tension with the religious leaders had been building. But after Jesus publicly claimed, “I and the Father are one” at the Feast of Dedication, the religious leaders tried to stone him.[1] Knowing his time was drawing near, Jesus withdrew across the Jordan River to the wilderness region of Perea, where he based himself for about three months—teaching, healing, and preparing his followers for what lay ahead. That short season, often overlooked in Lent, is referred to as the Perean ministry of Jesus.[2]

That insight changed how I read the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ final months—especially Luke 13:22–19:27, which offers the most detailed record of this season. It made me ask: What did Jesus do when he knew he had only three months to live? I invite you to read these chapters and reflect on what stands out, knowing that every word and action came in the shadow of the cross.

Cancer Gets Your Attention

But what about you? Do you ever think about the end of your life, or is it easier to push the thought aside? Sooner or later, though, life has a way of confronting us with that reality—as I’ve recently discovered.

In 2019, I was diagnosed with prostate cancer. I had surgery in 2021, but this past December, it returned. Now, I’m undergoing two months of radiation treatment. The good news is they caught the recurrence early so there’s a high likelihood of success. I know many others have faced cancer—some far worse than mine—but I’ve learned that no matter the severity, cancer gets your attention. It forces you to confront mortality, priorities, and what truly matters.

Thank You, Jesus

For example, I’m clinging more tightly to my faith. I grew up in a Christian home and gave my life to Jesus as a child. But during my freshman year of college, I went forward at an evangelistic service. Kneeling at the altar rail, I wasn’t sure what to say since I was already a believer. So, I simply whispered, “Thank you, Jesus,” and began to weep. In that moment, I knew—I was all in.

That assurance has stayed with me. Even though my cancer treatment can be unnerving at times, deep down I know I have nothing to fear. Whatever comes, it is well with my soul. Looking back, I now realize whispering that simple prayer was the most significant thing I’ve ever done.

I’ve also gained new clarity about what truly matters. So often, without realizing it, we conform to the patterns of this world—absorbing its divisions, its bitterness, its empty pursuits—until we no longer notice how far we’ve drifted from the mind of Christ. Yes, some principles are worth standing for—truth matters, justice matters. But in the light of eternity, many disputes that seem urgent now simply fade away.

Paul seemed to understand this when he wrote: “But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way… Christ is preached. And because of this, I rejoice.”[3]

The Good Thing About Hardship

Another thing I’m learning is that hardship isn’t always a bad thing. C.S. Lewis explores this in The Screwtape Letters, a fictional collection of letters from an experienced demon, Screwtape, to his young apprentice, Wormwood. In one letter, Wormwood is “delirious with joy” because a war has broken out. He assumes this is great news because it will unleash fear and suffering.

But Screwtape scolds him. War, he explains, can actually be dangerous for the forces of evil because it causes people to think about death and face the true condition of their souls. The real danger for humans, he argues, isn’t suffering—it’s “contented worldliness”—a life so comfortable and distracted that people never stop to consider eternity. Hardship has a way of waking us up to what truly matters.

My Lenten Discipline

My cancer journey has also shaped my Lenten discipline this year. Each day during my radiation treatment, I lie still on a hard table in a cold, high-tech room, alone with blinking monitors. As the massive apparatus moves around me, I can’t shake the feeling that an impersonal machine is taking control of my insides. It’s a strange, almost spiritual sensation. So, I’ve decided to memorize Psalm 139, part of which goes:

“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made…. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”[4]

I confess, my ability to memorize has gotten a little rusty since I was a kid in the old Bible Memory Association. But I have 36 radiation treatments to learn 24 verses, so I hope to have it “hidden in my heart” by the end.

Palm Sunday: Time to Decide

After three months in Perea, Jesus returned to Jerusalem, fully aware of what awaited him. The crowds cheered, eager for a political savior—but Jesus offered something far greater: eternal salvation. Palm Sunday was more than a triumphal entry; it was a public invitation. The world now had to answer the question Jesus asked his disciples: “Who do you say I am?”[5]

If you had only three months to live—or three decades, or more—how would you respond? Would you fully commit your life to Jesus? Would you wholeheartedly love God and your neighbor? Or would you hold on to things that will never last?

Lent is more than a season of reflection—it’s your journey to the cross and the empty tomb. It’s your opportunity to kneel, whisper, “Thank you, Jesus,” and commit yourself fully to him…forever.

[1] John 10:22-33

[2]  Perea was the region east of the Jordan River. While the name isn’t used in the New Testament, John 10:40-42, Matthew 19:1, Mark 10:1, and Luke 13:22 show that Jesus spent time in this area during the final months before his death. It was also the place where John had first baptized.

[3] Philippians 1:18

[4] Psalm 139:13-16

[5] Matthew 16:15-16

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