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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 yesterday's reading, Jesus replied to those are questioning Him in the temple in Jerusalem, with a question of His own. 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." 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?" These things did take place (the destruction of the temple) during the siege of Jerusalem, in AD 70. Not one stone was left upon another as it was rumored that there was gold between the stones. All that remained was a retaining wall, which in recent times has been called the Wailing Wall or Western Wall.
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." Here is the most immediate warning Jesus gives regarding "signs" -- that we not be deceived by false Christs. There were several "messianic" claims in the decades after Jesus' death, and there continue to be individuals claiming to be Messiah, or Christ Himself, today. His warning remains for us.
"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." My study bible says that we should note that "wars and commotions" come before the end. My study bible suggests that this refers first and foremost to the Roman destruction of Jerusalem, but also includes subsequent wars. It says, "Wars are not a sign of the imminent end, but of the opposite -- that the end is not yet" (see 1 Thessalonians 5:1-3).
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." Jesus lists many calamities in the era to come, the era in which we presently continue to live. But before all these things there will be persecution of those who love the Church. My study bible says that "all these calamities and all this opposition cannot stop the spread of the gospel, and indeed, persecutions against the Church often increase the number of souls being converted. St. John Chrysostom marvels that while the Romans subdued countless Jews in a political uprising, they could not prevail over twelve Jews unarmed with anything except the gospel of Jesus Christ." Perhaps the important thing that we read here is that Jesus sees persecution as an occasion for testimony. And testimony means reliance on the Spirit for what to say; we're to be so much "in the moment," so mindful, that we are not to think in advance what to say, for it will be a mystical "mouth and wisdom" that He provides for us. Let us note the depth of betrayal He prepares the disciples for: they will be betrayed by parents, brothers, relatives and friends. Some will be put to death, but they will be hated by all for His name's sake. But, He says, not a hair of your head shall be lost; and by patience they (and we) will possess our souls. Clearly, what is essential to the Christ is the integrity of the soul; for that we need patience.
What a story Jesus lays out before His disciples. We really have to imagine what this splendid temple was like. Herod (father of Antipas), in addition to being utterly ruthless, was known as Herod the Great and also Herod the Builder, so ambitious were his projects. Among those projects was the expansion of the temple into one of the most famous architectural marvels of the world. That this architectural wonder would be thrown down with so much destructive power that "not one stone shall be left upon another" would have been a shocking sort of revelation; too hard, I imagine, to fully take in. The power of these images all through this passage is deeply shocking. After Christ's death, the message seems to be, they must be prepared for anything. And only by their patience and endurance will they possess their souls, come through it all intact -- because the persecution against them will be vicious. But in spite of all this, Jesus has some very basic messages for the time they would be entering into after His death, Resurrection, and Ascension. They must first beware of false Christs. They are not to be deceived. Jesus has already told us in this Gospel that His return will be obvious to everyone, as a flash of lightning comes from one part of the sky and lights up the other. Secondly they will hear all kinds of rumors of war and wars between nations. And the persecutions will begin. But His great statement here is that persecution is an opportunity for witnessing, for giving testimony. Not only that, but so collected must they be that they are to try not to think beforehand what they will say, but to allow Him to help them in the moment, and He would give them the mouth and the wisdom to speak. And they will be betrayed by their nearest and dearest because of their faith in Him; there is seemingly nothing that will not be torn away here, or for which they must not be prepared. And despite this picture of destruction, and war, and division, and persecution, by their patience they will possess their souls. I assume that "not a hair of your head will be lost" is a dramatic image given for us to understand that the integrity of the soul can be complete no matter what happens, and that this is what is truly essential and of the highest importance. Can we get our heads around what Jesus is teaching? Could we understand even what He is getting at, despite the terribly vivid images of violence and harm, disruption and betrayal? I don't feel that Jesus is speaking only of this time before the destruction of the temple, but really of the things we must be prepared for even now if we truly love Him. There will be times when speaking the truth He leads us to may very well lead to persecution by those who just don't like our differences -- even among family. If I may take a rather common example, the issues of abuse of power within a family seem to be all around us. But addressing the problem will not usually be easy at all, given the patterns and dynamics of power -- and the easy scapegoating of someone who will tell the truth out of love and seeking to heal. A commitment to Christ is a commitment to love, to what is healthy -- and to right-relatedness, another way of saying "righteousness." And we know that brothers and sisters in Christ around the world suffer for their faith today as well, perhaps more than ever before. Let us consider what He asks of us: not to be fooled or led astray by false Christs, not to become unnerved by the violence we see nor by the betrayal we may experience, to understand the importance of testimony in the right time: when we are taught by Him in the moment. And not to consider beforehand what we will say, a mindfulness that asks of us great patience. The most important thing is the integrity of who we are, even in the midst of great division and destruction. We are not to "lose our heads" but to possess our souls through patience. We don't look for trouble, but we meet it with Him. Can we develop such practices? Can we understand what it is even to be "hated by all?" Let us consider what He will go through, and what He teaches to us now. How do we leave things in His hands, with patience, and with the priorities He states here?
