Stand Firm

Passage: Luke 21:5-31

Westboro Baptist Church has been all over the news this week following the death of its incendiary founder, Fred Phelps.  Most of the news has focused on Phelps’ legacy of hate- and bigotry-laced religious rants and protests.  But an interesting and somewhat overlooked aspect of Phelps’ theology was his conviction that no member of his congregation would die.  He stated publicly that Jesus would return in his lifetime.  In a recent interview his son admitted that Phelps’ death could spark a crisis of faith for some of his followers.

The topic of the end of the world, and Christ’s return, has been a source of debate since the very beginning of the Christian movement.  Jesus’ disciples anticipated his return within their lifetimes based on what Jesus says in Luke 21. 

Luke 21 records Jesus’ extended statement about some of the things his disciples could expect before his return.  Specifically Jesus points to Herod’s temple in Jerusalem – an astonishing feat of architecture, some of whose stones were as big as a city bus – and declares that not one of its stones will be left on another.  This seemingly immovable emblem of human ability and presumed symbol of God’s presence was going to fall.  Jesus predicts “wars and rumors of wars… great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven.”  He also adds, for his disciples’ benefit:

 But before all this, they will seize you and persecute you. They will hand you over to synagogues and put you in prison, and you will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of my name.

Life, says Jesus, is going to get worse before it gets better.  How did the disciples keep going, not knowing if or when they would be reunited with their friend and Savior?

They were sustained by the other things Jesus says in this passage.  As the disciples anticipate being brought before hostile courts and crowds of persecutors, Jesus tells them:

…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.

Jesus continues:

But not a hair of your head will perish.  Stand firm, and you will win life.

We know for a fact that most of Jesus’ disciples were martyred.  How could Jesus’ words be true? 

Jesus was talking about his disciples’ new life.  The life they would receive through Jesus’ resurrection and the gift of his Spirit.  Following the torture and crucifixion that took Jesus’ life and marred his body past the point of recognition, Jesus returned to them.  He was the same Jesus; but he had a new body.  His disciples came to understand that this was the “firstfruits of those who had fallen asleep” – that the resurrection of Jesus is a preview of the new life that awaits everyone who belongs to him. 

Jesus could, with complete conviction and integrity, promise his disciples the preservation of their lives because he knew what awaited him, and them.  He knew that his death was a necessary precursor to his resurrection.  And a necessary condition of the resurrection life he offers all those who are in him.

One of the components of the prayer Jesus taught is “Your kingdom come…”  We pray it without taking into account all the things Jesus teaches about what must precede the arrival of his Kingdom.  Temples must be destroyed.  Cities brought low.  Empires fall.  Those of us who profess his name will do so under duress.  Our own earthly lives must come to an end.

We do well to take in his promises.  First, that Jesus himself will journey with us and give us everything we need to remain faithful.  We need not fear that, when push comes to shove, we might let him go.  Because he will not let us go.  He will never let you go.

Second, that in a very real way not a hair can fall from the head of your resurrection body.  As Paul puts it in Colossians 3, “(Your) life is hidden with Christ in God.”  The resurrection life that Jesus offers each of us is untouchable, and awaits us as surely as we await his inevitable return.  Stand firm.