Hope in God's promise

With all of the suffering-both physical and emotional- the world and the nation is going through these past few months, it’s a good time to ask, “If we were accused of being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict?”  Based on the innuendo, calumny, and outright lies we find in our newspapers, on television, and through social media, for far too many of us the evidence is so meager that the case would be dismissed almost before it began.  We go to Church each week and mouth the right words, maybe even go to confession once a month or more often, but any sense of living with conviction of our trust and belief in Jesus Christ is absent.

A good measuring stick for our convictions is how we handle suffering-not just physical pain, but emotional stress as well.  There’s meaning in suffering.  The Cross seems a folly to the world.  But it’s part of our mission – a mission given us by Our Lord who accompanies us as we pursue it (Matthew 10:16-23).  We sometimes forget that.  But Jesus tells us very clearly that there is purpose.  We may be handed over to hostile authorities, but if so, we are handed over as witnesses.  Not witnesses in a human court or human trial, but witnesses for Jesus Christ.

What does it mean to be a witness for Jesus Christ? Saint Paul confronted those who said that our mission from the Lord to go into the world like sheep among wolves is folly (1 Cor 1:18-25).

As I reflected on this, I came up with a simple answer: that is, to live one's life with the assurance and conviction that one is a child of God.  Prayer, acts of kindness and charity toward one's brothers and sisters in Christ, a quiet certainty that God is present, concerned, and involved.  Let’s not forget obedience to our Church’s teaching!  And, sharing all of these with family, friends, and neighbors—quietly and unobtrusively; but with absolute certainty that the God of Love is served when we serve others.

The witness of our lives in our pursuit of holiness demonstrates that the cross of Christ is by no means a folly.  It is wisdom.  We’re wise to know that being innocent with Christ on the cross will lead us with Him to Resurrection and Easter Joy.

But Jesus points out that there’s a cost to speaking up.  In His time, the risk was being hauled before kings and being persecuted.  In our day, internet trolls lurk everywhere.  Judgment and condemnation abound.  Our polarized society pounces and attacks anyone with whom they disagree.  Respectful dialogue is buried under entitlement, power hunger, tribalism, and self-righteousness.

Unfortunately, this extends to our Church.  It’s difficult to have a civil discussion about women’s roles, the LGBTQ community, racial disparity, abortion, communion, divorce, or a myriad of other issues facing us.  This doesn’t mean that we have to be caught up in division and polarization, too.  Or that we must join the attackers who refuse to engage in dialogue and exploration, excluding those with whom we don’t agree.  In many ways have we become those that Jesus warned us against!

In what ways have we personally been afraid to speak up against injustice?  In what ways do we stay silent because it’s easier, we fear being attacked, we don’t want to be a “joke”, or the injustice being perpetrated doesn’t directly affect us in our lives?  If we refuse to speak up, who will?

Imagine being a follower of Jesus at the time He was preaching.  Imagine that there’s much excitement about Him and great hopes that He will be the new King and is the Messiah.  There would be much hope and excitement about what is to come.

 But then, out of the blue, Jesus says that His followers will be persecuted and scourged and that this persecution will continue over and over.  This must have made His followers stop and seriously question Jesus and wonder if it was worth following Him.

The persecution of Christians has been alive and well throughout the ages. It’s happened in every time and in every culture.  It continues to be alive today.  So what do we do with that?  How do we respond?

Many Christians can fall into the trap of thinking that Christianity is all about simply “getting along.”  It’s easy to believe that if we’re loving and kind then everyone will also love us.  But that’s not what Jesus said.

Jesus made it clear that persecution is going to be a part of the Church and that we shouldn’t be surprised when this happens to us.  We should not be surprised when those within our culture step on us and act maliciously.  When this happens it’s easy for us to lose faith and to lose heart.  We can get discouraged and feel like turning our faith into a hidden life we live.  It’s hard to live our faith openly knowing that the culture and world doesn’t like that and won’t accept it.

The examples are all around us.  All we have to do is read the news or log onto social media to be made aware of a growing hostility toward the Christian faith.  For that reason, we need to heed Jesus’ words today more than ever.  We need to be aware of His warning and have hope in His promise that He’ll be with us and will give us the words to say when we need it.  More than anything, this gospel is a call to hope and confidence in our loving God.

Again, we need to reflect on how ready and willing we are to face the hostility of the world.  We shouldn’t react with similar hostility; rather, we must strive to have courage and strength to endure any and every persecution with the help, strength, and wisdom of Christ.

To recap, Jesus says two remarkably different things in this Gospel of Matthew.  First, He makes us responsible for being as clever as snakes and as innocent as sheep as we make our way in the world; we must be on our guard in respect to others.  In all of this we are to take charge and be in control of ourselves, yet only a few verses later He asks us to put ourselves in the hands of the Spirit.

But there’s no conflict here.  Just as we don’t save ourselves without God's help, God doesn’t save us without our cooperation and openness.  Our being very present to our lives, seeing the blessings and the harder times, knowing that God, the Teacher, is always with us to challenge and instruct, to guide and to call us further; it’s all grace, all cause for thanksgiving and praise, whether we can see it at the time or not.

In the end, our lives are all about living the great virtue of hope in a love filled with faith.  Let’s walk with God today as best we can, our hands in the hand of our loving Father, as each Person of the Trinity teach us to be human in the best way and thus to grow into the children They seek us to become.