June 26, 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time: Luke 9:51-62
Seven times now, I’ve boarded a plane for the 25-hour trip to South Africa. For me, there’s nothing like this mission trip—the people and places, the worship and music, the deep connection and hospitality. It is the spirit of ubuntu, which Desmond Tutu says “speaks of the very essence of being human. My humanity is caught up, is inextricably bound up, in yours. We belong in a bundle of life.”
On my first trip, we met with churches and organizations working on the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Over the years, partnerships have strengthened, children who once lived in orphanages are now in university, and we’ve seen HIV/AIDS decline. “It’s time to come home,” I recently wrote to our partners from the mission field. “I have set my face for Chicago.”
There is wisdom in knowing when your mission in a place is over, when it’s time to move on. This week’s Gospel text says that “when the days drew near for [Jesus] to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.” Setting his face to Jerusalem marks a shift and a turn. It is significant enough for the text to mention it three times. One translation says “he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem.”
