“When these things begin to happen, watch out! You will be handed over to the local councils and beaten in the synagogues. You will stand trial before governors and kings because you are my followers. But this will be your opportunity to tell them about me. For the Good News must first be preached to all nations. But when you are arrested and stand trial, don’t worry in advance about what to say. Just say what God tells you at that time, for it is not you who will be speaking, but the Holy Spirit.
“A brother will betray his brother to death, a father will betray his own child, and children will rebel against their parents and cause them to be killed. And everyone will hate you because you are my followers. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.
N
o attorney needed.Good lawyers are never surprised in trial. They have carefully researched every aspect of the case and tried to think of every angle. Lawyers will even take their clients through a “pre-trial” practice where they will ask their client the questions they presume will be asked.
I think a good preparation for something as significant as a capital case trial is definitely in order. I know I would want to be prepared for such a hearing. About two years ago I received a traffic ticket. I went to court for the ticket and I was very much prepared for the case and that was only going to cost me money, not my life. How can Jesus seriously expect us not worry or spend time preparing the best defense possible when we stand on the firing line for our faith.
Fortunately, I don’t have to worry about this on a daily basis. I live in America where our freedoms protect our faith. I am very grateful for this. At times it makes for a weak dependency or faith on Jesus. If you have to trust him with your life, you need to have total faith in Jesus. If you only have to trust him with a few small details, faith is not all that necessary. If God doesn’t come through most of the time there is no harm to us, we have made sure of that in advance.
The only way this passage really comes into play for most of us Americans is if we choose to live like the widow who gave two mites (chapter 12). Radical obedience with total abandonment to God requires us to leap out of our insured quasi-faith life and into the great unknown. In the great unknown you have to trust God because you have given everything else away. Realistic for me? For you? Probably not, but I sure am thinking a lot more about what I depend on in life: God, me, or my things?
Father, forgive me for treating my faith like a stock fund that needs diversification to ensure I don’t take a loss when the market dips. I want to live the life of radical obedience, but I am terrified of it. Bring me back to the precipice of faith and hold my hand as I take another step over the edge of “reason” and into belief. - Dan Jones
A painful opportunity
There is something about Christianity that elicits anger, criticism, rejection, even persecution. In fact, wherever the Good News of Jesus has gone, it has met with this very kind of reaction, sooner or later. Truth is, if my brand of Christianity doesn’t bring some kind of negative response, I’ve likely omitted some critical element.
Two elements in the Good News also make it controversial news. Both grow out of human pride. The Good News doesn’t beat around the bush about our inability to work ourselves out of the messes we make. Every solution we create comes with negative side affects. We wanted to take both good and evil into our own hands. In our hands, every good we do eventually produces an evil downside.
Neither does the Good News mince words about the only solution. A first century carpenter, preacher, and crucified criminal is the only way out! Why? Because he was God, and, resurrected bodily from the grave, is God now just as he has been forever.
Offer this Good News and someone will take offense. Live this Good News and some will accuse us of thinking we’re better than everyone else. Refusing to live within human value systems transforms our lives into light. No matter how humble our attitudes may be (God help us!), living in stark contrast to common social values will bring negative reaction.
This is where many Christians, especially in North America, miss a ripe, though painful, opportunity to speak Good News. We are so busy taking offense at every move our culture makes to downplay, sideline, or ridicule the faith; we are so busy clinging to the fantasy that ours was and should be a Christian nation, that we forfeit opportunities to speak truth to a messed up society.
Unmovable God, the nations may rage, but you cannot be dethroned. Grant me a clearer picture of your sovereignty. Grant me a Christ-like balance between participating in my government and my higher allegiance to offering Good News – knowing that it will eventually bring offense. - Mike Leamon
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