Luke 21:12-19 (NIV) “But before all this, they will lay hands on you and persecute you. They will deliver you to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of my name. This will result in your being witnesses to them. But make up your mind not to worry beforehand how you will defend yourselves. For I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict. You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers, relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death. All men will hate you because of me. But not a hair of your head will perish. By standing firm you will gain life.”
The disciples were vitally interested in when the foretold destruction of Jerusalem would happen, and about the signs that would precede it, so that they would know when to flee to save themselves and their families. So far Jesus had told them things that would happen that would NOT be signs of the end. But before He moved on to things that would be, He focused on what would lay in store specifically for His followers.
The key word that would summarize all of this would be persecution. The followers of Jesus were going to be arrested, imprisoned, betrayed, and even put to death for the name of Jesus. They would face discipline in synagogues, and be brought before governors and kings. They would be betrayed by family and friends, and hated by people that they didn’t even know.
These words, spoken in the same calm, matter-of-fact tone that Jesus typically used for teaching, would have struck fear into the hearts of His followers. Who wouldn’t feel intimidated when told that these kinds of things awaited them? And, knowing that the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple were coming soon, these things seemed to be coming even sooner!
The only comfort that Jesus could give them was the understanding that this persecution was going to provide an opportunity for them to be a witness of the kingdom of God. In some mysterious way, Jesus Himself would provide them with the exact words that they would need when that happened; words that would be so powerful and convincing that none of them would be able to be resisted or contradicted by those who were persecuting them and trying them.
Then Jesus said something that harked back to what He had said just a few weeks earlier at Bethany, just before He raised Lazarus from the dead: “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.” (John 11:25-26 NIV) Now, immediately after telling them that some of them would be put to death (v16), He tells them that not a hair of their heads would perish, and that by standing firm, they would gain life. Obviously, Jesus was telling them that they needed to keep the whole picture in mind when the persecution hit. This life is not all that there is, and even though they might be killed here in the physical realm, their souls would continue to live, strong, healthy and unashamed, IF they remained true to Jesus and did not buckle under the suffering.
Father, these are good words for us, too, as we work in a sometimes hostile world and wait for Jesus to return. We need to be reminded that this life is not all that there is, and that we need to keep our focus on being true to Jesus, and to You, no matter what this world (or the people in it) throws at us. Lord, help me to focus each day on all that You have commanded me, so that I can not only be effective, but so that I can live in Your presence forever when this life is over. Amen.