By your patience possess your souls

 Then, as some spoke of the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and donations, He said, "These things which you see -- the days will come in which not one stone shall be left upon another that shall not be thrown down."  So they asked Him, saying, "Teacher, but when will these things be?  And what sign will there be when these things are about to take place?"  And He said:  "Take heed that you not be deceived.  For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am He,' and 'The time has drawn near.'  Therefore do not go after them.  But when you hear of wars and commotions, do not be terrified, for these things must come to pass first, but the end will not come immediately."

Then He said to them, "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.  And there will be great earthquakes in various places, and famines, and pestilences; and there will be fearful sights and great signs from heaven.  But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons.  You will be brought before kings and rulers for My name's sake.  But it will turn out for you as an occasion for testimony.  Therefore settle it in your hearts not to meditate beforehand on what you will answer; for I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to contradict or resist.  You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death.  And you will be hated by all for My name's sake.  But not a hair of your head shall be lost.  By your patience possess your souls."

- Luke 21:5-19

In recent readings, Jesus is teaching daily in Jerusalem.  He has made His Triumphal Entry, cleansed the temple, and faced the challenges of the leadership (see readings from  Saturday,  Monday,  Tuesday and Wednesday).  Yesterday, He continued before the leadership and and the people, posing in counterpoint a question of His own:   And He said to them, "How can they say that the Christ is the Son of David?  Now David himself said in the Book of Psalms:  'The LORD said to my Lord,  "Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool."'
"Therefore David calls Him 'LORD';  how is He then his Son?"  Then, in the hearing of all the people, He said to His disciples, "Beware of the scribes, who desire to go around in long robes, love greetings in the marketplaces, the best seats in the synagogues, and the best places at feasts, who devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers.  These will receive greater condemnation."  And He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury, and He saw also a certain poor widow putting in two mites.  So He said, "Truly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all; for all these out of their abundance have put in offerings for God, but she out of her poverty put in all the livelihood that she had."

Then, as some spoke of the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and donations, He said, "These things which you see -- the days will come in which not one stone shall be left upon another that shall not be thrown down."  My study bible tells us that "in Luke, the discourse of Christ on the destruction of Jerusalem and the end of the age occurs in the temple area and is addressed to the public.  The Lord's warnings about the future are intended to alert people to live righteously in the present."  It's very interesting how often "stones" come to be mentioned here during Holy Week in Jerusalem.  (See the readings for last Thursday, Friday and Monday.)  As we've noted in the earlier reading, this prophecy would be fulfilled in A.D. 70 during the Siege of Jerusalem, when soldiers believed there to be gold between the stones of the temple.

So they asked Him, saying, "Teacher, but when will these things be?  And what sign will there be when these things are about to take place?"  And He said:  "Take heed that you not be deceived."  My study bible says, "Not to be deceived is the first caution Christians ought to heed when people talk about the signs of the end."

"For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am He,' and 'The time has drawn near.'  Therefore do not go after them.  But when you hear of wars and commotions, do not be terrified, for these things must come to pass first, but the end will not come immediately."  Then He said to them, "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.  And there will be great earthquakes in various places, and famines, and pestilences; and there will be fearful sights and great signs from heaven.  But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons.  You will be brought before kings and rulers for My name's sake.  But it will turn out for you as an occasion for testimony."  My study bible points out that Jesus tells us "persecutions against Christians will provide them with opportunities to give testimony to their faith."   Jesus' warnings about what was to come in Jerusalem had their effect on the early Christian community there, and they were prepared for what was to come.  But this is also an occasion for His prediction of persecutions, and the teaching, as my study bible points out, that this is an opportunity for testimony. 

"Therefore settle it in your hearts not to meditate beforehand on what you will answer; for I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to contradict or resist.  You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death.  And you will be hated by all for My name's sake.  But not a hair of your head shall be lost.  By your patience possess your souls."  My study bible tells us that "not a hair of your head shall be lost" is an ancient expression meaning that not even death can harm a soul that is in God's hands.  It adds, "Endurance assures a place for us in the kingdom of God."

If we look closely at what Jesus says today, it's a prediction of very grim circumstances, of great violence, of destruction and suffering and death.  There's also tremendous betrayal.  Earlier (last Friday), Jesus lamented over Jerusalem, saying, "If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace!  But now they are hidden from your eyes.  For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation."  It's a time of reckoning for mistakes made, a kind of consequence of false decisions and ideals, a refusal to see and to accept a reality that is true and present, a way to go forward that requires a rethinking of present understanding.  In our lives, we can also see consequences for similar behavior:  a refusal to recognize what is coming, the consequences of our actions, the suffering caused by our own blindness and inability to accept a reality we don't want to see.  But in the midst of this dire picture, there's the glimmer of light that Jesus has for us.  He speaks of decisions by leadership that lead to a bad situation for all.  He speaks of betrayals and persecutions.  In this picture there is also the added truth of our world that the innocent suffer through no fault of their own, and in this He addresses His followers, with the full understanding that all things are in the hands of God.  When they are suffering and persecuted and betrayed, Jesus tells them they must look at things in a certain way -- and that way is to understand they are being offered an opportunity for testimony.  The one thing they must be resolved beforehand to do is not to meditate on what they will answer!  The answer Jesus gives here, throughout all this suffering and betrayal and persecution that is to come, is total reliance on God:  "I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to contradict or resist."  He doesn't promise them a wonderful, peaceful, "perfect" kind of life in worldly terms.  What He does promise is a heroic life, one that is full of decisions about the priority of what they bear within themselves in the world, the Kingdom that is within them, the Spirit they bear into the world whose words and testimony must be heard.  Lest we forget, the word in Greek for testimony or witness is μαρτύριον/martyrion -- the root of our word, martyr.  Throughout His time in Jerusalem, Jesus has provided examples of the wisdom that comes from God in His own answers and response to the authorities.  He promises that we too will be provided with a "mouth and wisdom" from Him.  In all aspects of betrayal or suffering, let us remember His promises to His flock here in Jerusalem, and the certainties of the suffering and death (for some) that were to come.  In all things, He promises, each circumstance of persecution or betrayal or affliction becomes an opportunity for testimony, and an endurance through which we possess our own souls.  We know what they went through.  Let us remember our dependence on Him, and every occasion that may be an opportunity for a living witness to His Spirit, for His name's sake.  We don't know beforehand what we "should" do; let us wait upon the "mouth and wisdom" He offers.  Even a cup of water to one who needs it might just be an act of witness, a bearing of His kingdom into the world.  And there will also be times in which Jesus does not speak (later in the week, here in Jerusalem), but this too bears witness to Him.  In all occasions, it's up to us to possess our souls, to be a true witness, His Way.  By our patience, we live.