Hope in the Midst of Destruction and Persecution

Mark 13:1-13

13 As Jesus was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!”

² “Do you see all these great buildings?” replied Jesus. “Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”

³ As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John and Andrew asked him privately, ⁴ “Tell us, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are all about to be fulfilled?”

⁵ Jesus said to them: “Watch out that no one deceives you. ⁶ Many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and will deceive many. ⁷ When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. ⁸ Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains.

⁹ “You must be on your guard. You will be handed over to the local councils and flogged in the synagogues. On account of me you will stand before governors and kings as witnesses to them. ¹⁰ And the gospel must first be preached to all nations. ¹¹ Whenever you are arrested and brought to trial, do not worry beforehand about what to say. Just say whatever is given you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit.

¹² “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. ¹³ Everyone will hate you because of me, but those who stand firm to the end will be saved. 

Reflection

Between my Junior and Senior year of High School, I went on a mission trip to Utah to talk to Latter Day Saints (L.D.S.), or Mormons, about their faith. As a part of the trip, I worked with a missionary group who was working at a large L.D.S. production/play that happened to be in front of a temple in Manti, Utah every summer.

As I started talking to one person during the performance, I mentioned that I was not a member of the L.D.S. Church. The person I was talking to told me I should talk to his two sons who had just returned from their “missions.” I said, “okay.”

As I began to talk to this man’s two sons, it quickly became clear that they were not looking to be friendly. Soon after we started talking, they were in my face about not being a member of the L.D.S. Church and putting down my faith. During this encounter, I remember feeling overwhelmed and unprepared for what I had just experienced. I was so overwhelmed that I soon dismissed myself from the conversation and I walked over to a local park and sat and cried by myself for a little while.

In the United States we rarely feel like I did. We have religious freedoms that a lot of other Christians who live in other places in the world do not.

During and after the time of Jesus, his followers had no religious freedom to worship God. They were publically mocked and even killed for professing to be a follower of Jesus.

In today’s passage, Jesus uses a conversation that starts with a random comment as a teaching moment. Jesus tells his followers that the Jerusalem Temple will one day be destroyed, that many large natural disasters will occur, and that Jesus’s followers will be brought in front of rulers and kings and killed for their faith.

In the midst of what had to be fear, Jesus offers both truth and hope.

The truth that Jesus tells is twofold. First, there will be pain, destruction, and hurt in the world. Secondly, if you follow Jesus, you run the risk of being made fun of, persecuted, and/or killed for your faith.

The hope that Jesus offers his followers is that during these times of destruction, hurt persecution, or death, God will be with them through the power of the Holy Spirit. When Jesus’s followers do not have words, he will give them words to say. Then, at the end of the passage, Jesus reminds his followers of the ultimate hope: heaven.

As followers of Jesus we will go through hard times, we will see destruction, we might even be persecuted or killed for our faith, yet we have hope. We have hope that God has overcome evil and death. That one-day, we will be with God for all eternity. There is nothing that could happen to us on earth that can take away that promise of God.

Questions.

1.     Have you ever been made fun of, judged, or persecuted for your faith? How did that make you feel?

2.     When you have felt this way, did you feel like God was there helping you through that situation?

3.     What types destruction or evil have you seen in the world?

4.     Where have you seen hope and Jesus in this world?

5.     What ultimate hope does Jesus give his followers?

6.     Why do you think Jesus made sure to remind his followers of this hope?

7.     How do you need hope right now?

8.     How can your family help support you as you seek hope?

9.     Pray for each other.