What does Jesus mean? And why, one might think, not prepare in advance, not think through at least in general terms what will have to be said when one has to testify before the authorities? God, of course, will help in a critical situation, but...
What does Jesus mean? And why, one might think, not prepare in advance, not think through at least in general terms what will have to be said when one has to testify before the authorities? God, of course, will help in a critical situation, but it would not be useless for a person himself to think through and formulate his own views and convictions, would it?
If the matter were views and convictions, then perhaps that would be exactly right. If Christianity were some new teaching, new religion, new theology, or new ethical system, then this teaching would have to be defended like any teaching, with arguments in hand, preferably with a clear and preplanned outline, or at least with ready answers to the most probable questions.
But the point is that Christianity is not a new teaching but a new life: life with Christ in the Kingdom He brought into the world. Of course, one can tell about this life just as about any other, but words alone are not enough here: behind them must stand real experience of that very life, so that the listener understands that the speaker really knows what he is talking about. And for this, the life of which the witness speaks must be a reality for him himself, a reality being lived at the very moment when he bears witness to it.
Such speech, of course, cannot be prepared in advance in any way. The breath of the heavenly Father, the breath of the Kingdom, is always unpredictable. One can never say for certain what it will reveal in a minute. Such is the life of the Kingdom in general, and only in this way can one speak about it.
The point is not that in a critical situation it is difficult to speak and therefore the direct participation of the Father, the Savior, the immediate sense of the breath of the Kingdom is needed at that moment. It is needed not only then; it is always needed. Testimony before authorities is only a particular case of testimony in general. But the probability of spiritual failure in a critical situation is, of course, higher. Therefore a Christian especially needs here what he actually needs constantly. And the Savior reminds the disciples listening to Him of this simple truth, the truth that a true witness of the Kingdom is not the one who speaks about the Kingdom, but the one through whom the breath of the Kingdom speaks. And the voice of the Father.
10
10:19 Take no thought - Neither at this time, on any sudden call,need we be careful how or what to answer. Luk 12:11.