We’ve been taught to study for tests, and we’ve all had those all-nighters getting ready for the final. So, why does Jesus tell us that we shouldn’t think about how we should answer our accusers, especially when we’ve been betrayed by family(!)?
In this passage, Jesus is warning his disciples that turbulent times are coming. God is acting through Jesus to set right the world, redeem his people, and bring all nations to himself.
But, in so doing, God will anger a lot of people (sometimes including our own family) and upset a lot of institutions that claim to speak for God. One such institution is the Temple.
The Temple system had grown to represent nationalism and rebellion against Rome. But, Jesus’s way, God’s way, is much different so the Temple and status quo must go.
This would be like saying, for Americans, that the White House must go; or, for Orthodox Christians, that it was good for Hagia Sophia to have been conquered.
It’s unsettling.
And, when this happens, people will look for scapegoats. Christians have made pretty good ones throughout the centuries. All sorts of people have blamed Christians for the faults of the world and have taken it out of them, sometimes in gruesome fashion.
However, God promises that he’ll be with us. He’ll be there holding our hand as we suffer and as we’re brought to trial.
This doesn’t mean we aren’t to study scripture and do the “hard work of studying,” but it means that when the tough gets going, Christ, the crucified Lord, suffers along with us and, in the end, he’ll redeem us as one of his own.
The Reading
But before all this they will lay their hands on you and will persecute you, handing you over to the synagogues and prisons, led away to kings and governors for my name’s sake; It will result in you offering testimony. Therefore, put it into your hearts not to rehearse your defense in advance; For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of those prosecuting you will be able to oppose or contradict. And you will be handed over even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death, And you will be hated by all because of my name. And by no means shall a hair of your head perish; By your endurance you will gain your souls. (Luke 21:12-19)