What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?

 

 While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying, "What do you think about the Christ?  Whose Son is He?"  They said to Him, "The Son of David."  He said to them, "How then does David in the Spirit call Him 'Lord,' saying:

'The LORD said to my Lord,

"Sit at My right hand, 

Till I make Your enemies Your footstool"'?

"If David then calls Him 'Lord,' how is He his Son?"  And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor from that day on did anyone dare question Him anymore.

 

- Matthew 22:41-46 

 

In yesterday's reading, we read Jesus' explanation to His disciples of the parable of the Sower:   "Therefore hear the parable of the sower:  When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart.  This is he who received seed by the wayside.  But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while.  For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles.  Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.  But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces:  some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty."

 

While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying, "What do you think about the Christ?  Whose Son is He?"  They said to Him, "The Son of David."  He said to them, "How then does David in the Spirit call Him 'Lord,' saying: 'The LORD said to my Lord, "Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool"'?  If David then calls Him 'Lord,' how is He his Son?"  And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor from that day on did anyone dare question Him anymore.  Our readings of this week prepare us for Ascension Day, otherwise known as the Feast of the Ascension of our Lord, which is celebrated tomorrow in the West, and one week from tomorrow in the Eastern Churches, generally speaking.  It is dependent upon the date of Easter, as Christ's Ascension took place forty days after His Resurrection.  Today's reading jumps to Matthew chapter 22, when Jesus is in the Temple in Jerusalem, engaged in disputing with the religious leadership.  Here, my study Bible explains, Christ asks this particular question, quoting from Psalm 110, to lead the Pharisees to the only logical conclusion:  that He is God incarnate.  They believed the Messiah to be a mere man, and therefore reply that the Messiah would be a Son of David.  But David, as king of Israel, could not and would not address anyone was "Lord" except God.  But in Psalm 110:1 (from which Jesus quotes here) David refers to the Messiah as "Lord."  So, therefore, the Messiah must be God.  The only possible conclusion is that the Messiah is a descendant of David only according to the flesh, but is also truly divine, sharing His Lordship with God the Father and the Holy Spirit.  Therefore the first reference to the LORD applies to God the Father, and the term my Lord refers to Christ.  The Pharisees, my study Bible says, do not answer because they realize the implications and are afraid to confess Jesus to be the Son of God.  

From our present day vantage point, we might be tempted to think that what Jesus points out about the psalm is scandalous to the Pharisees.  But the scandal is in suggesting that He Himself is this figure.  At the time of Christ, there existed literature from within the Second Temple period (560 BC - 70 AD) in which these terms from Scripture had been explored as to why there would be different words or references, implying different persons, but which all clearly applied to God.  So the idea that the concept of God could include more than one divine Person already existed within Jewish religious scholarship.  But perhaps there is nowhere but in this passage (see also Mark 12:35-37, Luke 20:41-44) where this concept is expressed so elegantly.  This is Christ's way, and it is one reason why it is to the Scriptures we turn for inspiration:  there is nowhere one can find eloquence which is both simple and profound at the same time to the extent that we have in the words of Jesus -- nowhere else where concepts of such depth and complexity are given to us in language so succinct, so evocative, and yet precisely to the point.  This is one reason why we continue to turn to Christ and to the Gospels.  As St. Peter said on behalf of the rest of the disciples (and the rest of us believers and faithful), "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life" (see John 6:66-69).  It is here that, through the Scripture of the Old Testament, and specifically in this particular reference, this psalm of King David, Jesus elegantly presents us with the mystery of who He is, both God and man, human and divine.  He will also refer to Himself by the title "Son of Man" which is found in the apocalyptic literature of Daniel 7:13 to refer to "one like the Son of Man" who is suggested in context as another divine Person, and who appears together with the Ancient of Days.  But here, Jesus, a physical human descendant of King David (Matthew 1:1-17), is also "my Lord" to David.  This is the root and heart of what is called Christology, our understanding of just who Jesus Christ is, and it informs all of our understanding about what He does in the world and His mission to us.   As noted above, soon we are celebrating the Feast of the Lord's Ascension, which comes forty days after His Resurrection.  And all of this is essential to our understanding of what the Ascension means, how in both His humanity and divinity, Jesus ascends to His place in heaven "at the right hand of the Father" (Creed; see also Acts 7:55–56; Romans 8:34; Ephesians 1:20; Colossians 3:1; Hebrews 1:3; Hebrews 8:1; Hebrews 10:11-15).   We look to this understanding of who Christ is in order to have a better understanding of ourselves and what He might ask of us.  For His work goes on in the world, and in us as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Take heed that no one deceives you

Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple.  And Jesus said to them, "Do you not see all these things?  Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down."

Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, "Tell us, when will these things be?  And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?"  And Jesus answered and said to them:  "Take heed that no one deceives you.  For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many.  And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars.  See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.  For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.  And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places.  All these are the beginning of sorrows.

"Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name's sake.  And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another.  Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.  And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.  But he who endures to the end shall be saved.  And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come."

- Matthew 24:1-14

In yesterday's reading, we read the last part of Jesus' final public sermon, a grand critique of the practices of the scribes and Pharisees.  (See the earlier readings of His sermon here and here.)  He is speaking in the temple at Jerusalem.   He said, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness.  Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, 'If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.'  Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.  Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers' guilt.  Serpents, brood of vipers!  How can you escape the condemnation of hell?  Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes:  some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.  Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.  O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her!  How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!  See!  Your house is left to you desolate; for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!"

Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple.  And Jesus said to them, "Do you not see all these things?  Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down."    This seemingly simple pronunciation could not have been simple in its impact.  The temple at this stage was an extraordinary architectural creation, one of Herod the Great's more ambitious projects.  (Herod was also known as Herod the Builder.)  The temple was called one of the seven wonders of the world, as it had been embellished and rebuilt in such an extraordinary way.  Construction had begun in 19 BC.  While the main part of this new construction was completed by Herod's death in 4 BC, construction would still continue for over 60 years.   At the time the enlarging and beautifying of the temple would have been continuing for over 45 years.  Construction would continue until 63 AD.  But Jesus' stunning prophecy here was fulfilled at the Roman Siege of Jerusalem, in 70 AD.   With the exception of one retaining wall, called by custom the Wailing Wall or more accurately the Western Wall, the temple was completely destroyed, so that not one stone would be left upon another, as it had been rumored, and so the soldiers believed, that there was gold between its massive stones.

Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, "Tell us, when will these things be?  And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?"  And Jesus answered and said to them:  "Take heed that no one deceives you.  For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many.  And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars.  See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.  For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.  And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places.  All these are the beginning of sorrows."   There is no doubt that associated with the destruction of the temple would be the end of the age.  Jesus' great emphasis here is on deception -- warning the disciples not to be deceived.  The greatest warning is in being deceived to follow a false Christ.   The wars and rumors of wars would most immediately apply to the Roman destruction of Jerusalem, but also characterize subsequent periods since.  My study bible tells us that wars are not a sign of the imminent end but rather of the opposite -- that the end is not yet (see 1 Thessalonians 5:1-3).  In the Greek, the beginning of sorrows is literally the beginning of "birth pains."

"Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name's sake.  And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another.  Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.  And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.  But he who endures to the end shall be saved.  And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come."  Jesus speaks of the period of great tribulation.  In the traditional interpretation this is not referring mainly to the final years before Christ's return, but encompasses the whole of the Christian era.   As my study bible puts it, all these calamities and all this opposition cannot stop the spread of the gospel.  It notes that persecutions against the Church often increase the number of souls being converted.  St. John Chrysostom has commented that while the Romans subdued countless Jews in a political uprising at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, they could not prevail over twelve Jews unarmed with anything but the gospel of Jesus Christ.

We turn to Jesus' warning and His great emphasis on discernment.  It's our watchfulness and endurance that is important.  And the most important thing is faith.  The destruction of this extraordinary temple, rebuilt as one of the world's most ambitious and beautiful projects by Herod the Great, serves as a reminder of one constant message of the Old Testament:  that it's not in "chariots" or material power that we trust, but God.  There's a constant reminder throughout Scripture, particularly in the Old Testament, that the battle is won by God.  And then there is the commentary by St. Chrysostom that while the Romans would subdue countless Jews involved in a political uprising, those relatively few Jews armed with the gospel would not be stopped from spreading it throughout the Roman world.  It enforces something important about our faith.  When we are in times of peril and fear, threat and disruption, we are to remember Jesus' great emphasis on enduring, on not being deceived, on the essence of our faith as refuge.  Right now "wars and rumors of wars" seem to abound in our world.  Violence has reached a level where we hear of it all around us, and we see it all around the world.  Much of it has a religious overtone to it.  And Christians are persecuted for their faith in many parts of the world, as are other religious minorities.  It is a time of "birth pains" that we can see every day, with "wars and rumors of war" playing out.  The media brings these things to our attention and the horrors are beyond words to describe in barbarity, and in hatred, and the killing and enslavement of innocents.  Where does our faith root us in this time?  Jesus' emphasis is not on timetables, nor expectations of the end.  Our emphasis must be on watchful, prayerful lives.  We take refuge in the gospel, in His word, in His commandments.  We endure, as He has taught us.  And our job is also to be alert, and awake -- not to be deceived by false prophets, or false Christs.  In the times we are most tempted by fear and tribulation, Jesus calls us to focus -- to watchfulness.  What is a "good servant" to be about?  Where is our focus?  It is a time for prayer, discernment, guidance.  This is not so that we "do nothing," nor that we hide.  It's the opposite:  it is a forceful, positive turn to the place where we find direction and discernment, for good judgment.  We are not called to be blind sheep following blind guides, a term Jesus has used in a recent reading.  We are called to be alert and aware of what is around us, and also of our own internal flaws that may cause us to be blind.   It is a time to remember His commandments and what our faith asks from us.   We remember the two greatest commandments in the Law, as Jesus has told us:  to love God with all that we are, and to love neighbor as oneself.  And we remember the new commandment He gave us:  to love one another as He has loved us.  Advent is the perfect time to consider what all of this means, even in times of persecution and instability.  I don't think that there is a more needful time to center in the peace of God, in the word of Christ, and the refuge of prayer as a time of focus, watchfulness, and discernment.  We need to recollect what we are to be about, to remember who we are, to hold fast to what He teaches us, and not to be carried away by the times.  Instead, we continue to carry out His commandments.  What we need is true wisdom, and an understanding of where His peace and grace call us.  How do you put your faith into practice today?  Where do we find strength in weakness?  What are you going to put your faith in?

Render therefore unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's

 Then the Pharisees went and plotted how they might entangle Him in His talk.  And they sent to Him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, "Teacher, we know that You are true, and teach the way of God in truth; nor do You care about anyone, for You do not regard the person of men.  Tell us, therefore, what do You think?  Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?"  But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, "Why do you test Me, you hypocrites?  Show Me the tax money."  So they brought Him a denarius.  And He said to them, "Whose image and inscription is this?"  They said to Him, "Caesar's."  And He said to them, "Render therefore unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's."  When they had heard these words, they marveled, and left Him and went their way.

- Matthew 22:15-22

Yesterday, we read that Jesus responded to the leadership in the temple who questioned His authority there.  He taught another parable to them:  "The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son, and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding; and they were not willing to come.  Again, he sent out other servants, saying, 'Tell those who are invited, "See, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fatted cattle are killed, and all things are ready.  Come to the wedding."'  But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his business.  And the rest seized his servants, treated them spitefully, and killed them.  But when the king heard about it, he was furious.  And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.  Then he said to his servants, 'The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy.  Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding.'  So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good.  And the wedding hall was filled with guests.  But when the king came into to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment.  So he said to him, 'Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?'  And he was speechless.  Then the king said to the servants, 'Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'   For many are called, but few are chosen."

 Then the Pharisees went and plotted how they might entangle Him in His talk.  And they sent to Him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, "Teacher, we know that You are true, and teach the way of God in truth; nor do You care about anyone, for You do not regard the person of men.  Tell us, therefore, what do You think?  Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?"  But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, "Why do you test Me, you hypocrites?  Show Me the tax money."  So they brought Him a denarius.  And He said to them, "Whose image and inscription is this?"  They said to Him, "Caesar's."  And He said to them, "Render therefore unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's."  When they had heard these words, they marveled, and left Him and went their way.   This question is designed to trap Jesus.  If He answers that it's lawful to pay taxes, the people will be against Him, as they detest Roman rule.  If He answered, "No," then He would be open to a charge of treason by the Romans.  Jesus' answer in some way very cleverly points us back to the money changers -- whose tables He upset in His first act after the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem.   Because the coins bore the image of Caesar, they were considered defiling to the temple.    Jesus' answer once again evades the trap set for Him.  My study bible says it shows that a believer can render the state its due while serving God (see also Romans 13:1-7).  It also notes that as Caesar's image is on the coin, so each person bears the image of God and therefore belongs to God.  Conflict comes where the state demands what is contrary to God.

Jesus' answer takes us to the question of what faith is all about.  Is it a political liberation movement?  Is it something that allies us to particular political causes?  For Christ, allegiance to God transcends all issues and everything in our lives.  We can put our faith in God who is the ultimate arbiter of all things.  Christ never preaches "politics."  In the end, at His Crucifixion, it will be a political activist and rebel against the Romans whom the crowd prefers for amnesty.  Jesus gives us a way to live our lives outside of radical extremism.  Some things are in the realm of Caesar.  But soul and spirit belong to God.  We can live in the world, and still not be "of it."  That is, when we become entirely a creation of "politics," one way or another, we are no longer rendering our due to God.  This is the true understanding of how to delineate relationship, and it is Christ's way.  He has paid the temple tax, even as an obligation He expresses reservations about (see From whom do the kings of the earth take customs or taxes, from their sons or from strangers?)  Here, He separates what belongs to God and what belongs to Caesar as two different things, not belonging in the same category.  It's another way of saying that Caesar is not a god, if we look closely at what most concerns Jesus.  This is a median way.  It takes us out of "faith" allegiance to movements that would align themselves as purely political.  Our heart is centered on God, the true place of faith, and everything else must "regroup" around that basic allegiance that surpasses all else.  In that context, one can "render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's" without surrendering the things that are God's.  As we move into times more politicized than seemingly they have been, let us remember where our center is, and where our faith is.  It is the one true thing that sets everything else in its place. 

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 or 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

Yesterday, we read that after an encounter with Sadducees and scribes in the Jerusalem temple, Jesus 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."   I can't help but be struck by the fact that Jesus has just told His disciples to beware of the scribes, because they "go around in long robes, love greetings in the marketplaces, the best seats in the synagogues, the best places at feasts, who devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers."    This temple was an absolutely stunning, grand building; built by Herod the Great who was also known as Herod the Builder.  It was one of the wonders of the world of its time.  But He's telling them not to be fooled by appearances.   There's a deeper reality at work here beyond what they see.  This prophesy was fulfilled in AD 70, during the Roman Siege of Jerusalem.  We remember also Jesus' lament over Jerusalem as He entered the holy city.

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."    Christ's emphasis is on awareness (and here, a warning against deception by false Christs), another way of teaching us not to rely on appearances.   There is also a sort of chronology given, warning His disciples about the destruction to come in Jerusalem.  He emphasizes virtue as well as awareness, telling them not to be terrified.  My study bible suggests that "wars and commotions" first and foremost applies to Jerusalem, but also certainly include subsequent wars.  It notes that wars are not a sign of the imminent end, but of the opposite -- that "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 or rulers for My name's sake.  But it will turn out for you as an occasion for testimony."   Calamities and opposition can't stop the spread of the gospel, my study bible notes.  Rather persecutions against the Church often increase the number of souls being converted.  My study bible refers to St. John Chrysostom, who "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."  I consider Jesus' words, "It will turn out for you as an occasion for testimony," to be the great focus and teaching for us here.

"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."   Here is the revelation of the gift of the Holy Spirit, at work in them in the midst of the persecution.  We are to be reliant on God, on the Spirit -- even while betrayal may go to the deepest and most personal and important places in our lives.   For the love of Him, we may be objects of social hatred, "hated by all."   We are asked to stand firm and by our patience "possess our souls."

Jesus speaks of the need for a tremendous resilience and faith on the part of those who follow Him.  This isn't just a "go to church on Sunday" kind of faith He's talking about here.  This is about persecutions and life on the line, in which we're hated for our faith.  It's a sort of question of identity:  how do we really identify ourselves?  With whom do we truly affiliate?  If life in Christ is the basis for identity, then that puts us into a kind of perspective that sets us apart into a place where our internal strength and integrity must come into play.  Christ calls on us to be discerning, patient, and faithful.  We see tribulation of many kinds around us in the world today.  Violence claims lives in increasingly shocking and troubling ways.  Violence in a church has shaken us here in the United States.  But if we really do take our identity from Him, we've got to ask ourselves what it is He asks of us.  Our faith has to remain the root of how we conduct ourselves, in the truth of His love for us, and our faith in His gospel message.  If we focus on these virtues of awareness ("take heed that you not be deceived") and of not letting fear or panic run our lives ("do not be terrified"), if we center in on the fact that in persecutions or tribulation the Kingdom reminds us that there is an occasion for testimony, then we stand in the right place.  We can act in the patience by which we possess our souls.  And we can most of all rely on the Spirit to help us, to teach us, to pray in us, to teach us how we ought to pray, and to give us proper testimony, witnessing.  That's the central line we tread, the way we focus in and know who we are and what it is we must be about, no matter what is going on around us.  Let us pray for the martyrs of violence, wherever they may be, and remember what our calling must be while in the world He came not to condemn, but to save.  By our patience we possess our souls, our most precious commodity.