A Reflection for Lent, GBHEM Lenten series

March 31, 2025 | By Kelly Figueroa-Ray

23 When the days drew near for him to be taken up,
he set his face to go to Jerusalem.

Luke 9:51 (NRSV) 

A grave marker

Last Fall I went on a road trip to Canada. Our visit was short but life changing, not just because we were detained at the border when trying to enter Canada — a story for another time — but because we visited a Black settlement that is a terminus of the Underground Railroad. Picture a typical white settlement from the days of the pioneers, except instead of the common (non)sense of colonialism, capitalism and the repressive power and violence that is required of both, this settlement was built on the common sense of abolition and the co-creation of community.

“When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.”

Luke 9:51 is the beginning of what some scholars call Jesus’s travel log toward his final days on Earth. He would be taken up on a Roman cross, die, descend into hell, and his body buried in a tomb. Three days later, Jesus would be taken up from hell to live again and would be taken up from earth to heaven.

He set his face… to go to the cross, to rise again and to ascend to heaven.

I am not able to capture in words what it was like to stand on land that has been owned by Freedom Seekers and their descendants since the 1850s. Can you fathom the outrageous grit and determination of these ancestors who made such a long and dangerous journey? Standing on their land, I realized, yes, Jesus did set off to go to Jerusalem knowing and accepting the cost, but like these ancestors running toward the North Star…

Jesus set his face… to lead us all to freedom.

These ancestors followed in the footsteps of Jesus with a faith that moved mountains, and while they must have been scared, fear was not their guide. They knew he had gone before them and had made a way out of no way, a way to freedom. May we, too, follow the way of Jesus with a faith such as this. May we always have our faces set on freedom for all, no matter what we fear it may cost us. On our gravestones will be etched: “WE HAVE COME THIS FAR BY FAITH.”

Prayer
Lord, may we be outrageous freedom seekers like these ancestors who fled sin, suffering and death to get to freedom in another land. Help us learn who you are from those who know that when you are with us, nothing is impossible. By your power, we can co-create communities that are not held together and maintained by violence against the poor but instead are structured as systems of care and demonstration plots of your kingdom here on Earth. In the name of the One who gave up everything so we all could be free, Amen.