Friday, March 8

“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.” (Luke 21: 15-19)

When we think of how we like to live our lives, having people who hate us and come up against us are not things we wish for. We want to be loved and respected. We do not want to spend our days being in fear. We want comfort and entertainment.

In this passage from Luke, the realities of adversarial relationships, of betrayal by family and friends, of pain and discomfort, even death, are not softened. They are put right up front. This was the life facing so many followers of Jesus at that time. It must have been confusing, and so dismaying. The choice was to love God, to live as Jesus wanted them to live and possibly be put to death for it, or to betray their faith and lose all that they had gained. It is hard for us to listen to this, much less understand how the early Christians faced their challenges with such seeming joy. What drove them and strengthened them?

In Syria, right now over 60,000 people have been put to death for what they believe. Many people today all over the world are risking their lives for freedom and change. Many Christians are losing their lives for their faith. They are facing difficult realities which are unimaginable.

What does the love of God have to do with this? It has everything to do with it. The promise of God in Luke is not that life will be easy. It is not that we will be loved by all. It is instead that, though it may seem so at the time, we will NOT perish. By standing firm we will gain life - now and into eternal life as well. This is a big thought. It is a hard thought, but may be our most important hope and joy when hard choices face us.

Lent is a time when we ask ourselves where we are in our faith and how far we are willing to go to serve God. It is a time if we are honest that we may not like what we see in ourselves. It may be painful just to ask ourselves the hard questions. But God does not expect us to be perfect or to ask for suffering just to prove ourselves. It is just the opposite. God just asks us to trust that the words we need, the grace and strength we need will be provided at the time, if we set our wills toward God.

Fran Peel