NOTES for Luk 21:12-19

The Lord says that those who profess His teaching will face severe trials. Christians will be seized, brought to judgment in synagogues, thrown into prison, persecuted... From an ordinary worldly point of view, this means Jesus’ complete failure as a preacher. If such trials await His followers, is it worth believing Him? The Savior’s answer does not fit within the framework of ordinary logic, because Christ thinks on the scale of eternity. His words, “This will give you an opportunity to testify,” mean that in these difficult situations His followers will be able to bear full witness to Him. For God Himself took humiliation and pain upon Himself not in order to abolish them, but to sanctify them. Throughout the history of the Church, many holy martyrs revealed the light of Christ in their sufferings and thereby became His true witnesses.

When we find ourselves facing danger, we want to hide and run away, but these words of the Gospel call us to do precisely the opposite: despite our smallness and helplessness, to bear Christ in this suffering.