For Sunday, November 17, 2013 – Luke 21:5-19
Jesus speaks some hard news to his friends. He knows how much we like to lean on systems and structures. Despite their flaws, he knows we depend on them, look to them for reassurance. And he wants us to know: the security we get from our religious, familial and socio-political icons is going to be tested beyond anything we can imagine. You can count on it, Jesus says. The things that give you stability are going to quake and change. They are going to fail to defend and protect you. When this happens—not if but when—when you are cast out from the very systems you have been loyal to, when you are charged with crimes against them even as they are the ones failing you, it is going to be very hard. So Jesus offers a word of advice: endure.
Have his friends learned to trust him enough to hear this word? Are we ready to lean into the grace of upheaval? Can we travel the way of endurance?
Jesus knows the coming breakdown, whatever the particulars for each of us might be, will terrify us. He knows we will feel threatened, betrayed, even hated. And yet, he assures us, we will be cared for beyond our imagining if we endure. In fact, we will be given everything we need. So confident is he in this promise that he says not to waste time trying to devise your own plans. Just show up, just listen, just endure.
“Endurance” might not sound like the most appealing life strategy. Yet endurance is offered here not as a heavy weight of duty but as an alternative to despair, a proven strategy for facing the myriad breakdowns of life. To endure is to live in alert readiness, to wait for the right words to be given, for the right way to come. Jesus knows our true nature is not to hide in fear from the terrors of the day. What we truly want is to show up, minds and hearts open, eager to receive our instructions. We want to face courageously the coming crisis and find ways to serve. Our true self wants to stand steady against the wind . . . and endure.
