Luke 21:5-19 Commentary

When Luke wrote this passage of Scripture, including Jesus saying, “But not a hair of your head will perish,” people following Jesus had already been arrested, persecuted, handed over to synagogues and prisons, brought before kings and governors because of the name of Jesus—people like James and Stephen.

The witness of the martyrs had already begun to rival and surpass the witness of the beautiful stones and gifts in the temple. Jesus tells them to trust more in the witness borne from suffering than the witness borne from being in power and stability. The sign and symbol of power and refuge—the temple—would be thrown down by their enemies but the internal strength and presence of God could not be stopped, taken away from them, or silenced. (This is partly how I understand Jesus promising to give them the wisdom they need when they face hardship, arrest, and persecution in verses 14-15).

But back to the beginning of our passage and the disciples’ question… They want to know when the temple is going to be destroyed. When will this hardship come? Jesus doesn’t answer their question but goes into more detail about how difficult it will be and warns them that others will try to use their fear as a way of setting themselves up as the Saviour. Jesus tells them not to follow anyone who set themselves up as the only option. (And we remember here how many times in how many ways we’ve heard Jesus tell his disciples and would-be followers that they already have a Good God who has given them everything they need…)

Is it wishful thinking and cocksureness, or is it our desire to avoid or ignore pain that fools us into believing that things are supposed to be good for us—easy for us—acceptable to us, as Christians? Everything and everyone is in some in rebellion against God’s establishment of goodness and righteousness in the new heavens and earth. Nations continue to pick fights that have no point except the petty egos of their leaders. Natural disasters continue to happen, including those caused by human action and inaction. People continue to suffer.

All of that is “out there” suffering, the kind we watch from a distance. But then Jesus takes it closer to home: “before all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you…” Stephen and James have already died for their faith and life with Jesus Christ—proof bad things are going to continue to come. And when they do, Jesus says, don’t look to someone claiming to be God for support. Look inside for the God already with you. “I will show you what to do. I will speak through you,” Jesus says.

When your heart is broken because your family has rejected you and handed you over to wolves, when they are complicit with putting you on the road towards death, God is with you. The people who become our enemies will not understand this trust we show when we look to Jesus before anyone else, when we don’t let our faith and trust in him be shaken by what others do to us… When we stand firm (as the NIV describes endurance in verse 19) instead of caving to what is popular or the way those in power want us to be… When we know the who of what we believe, and trust God’s work in us…

For the disciples to do this, they will need to cultivate the relationship they has begun with Christ among them long past the day of his Ascension. The disciples will need to return to the foundation of what he has taught them and what the Spirit reveals to them. They will need to check their beliefs and actions against the way of righteousness that Jesus modelled to them. In other words, they will need to walk the life of faith with Jesus always and ever before them, following him through the valley of the shadow of death. By not giving up, in faith, when they come to the other side each will find that they have gained their soul because it is Jesus Christ who fills it.

Textual Point

The verb in the last sentence is not “endure” but “gain.” How is endurance the method by which we gain our souls? Could this be connected to how Jesus describes what will happen as we face our opponents? He says, “I will give you words and wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict.” We know that this comes from the Holy Spirit’s presence in us: the one who makes effectual all of God’s actions towards us.

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Illustration Idea

Ernest Shackleton was an Irish explorer who led three expeditions to Antarctica in the 1910s (and was en route to lead a fourth when he died of a heart attack at the age of 47). Shackleton’s family motto was “By endurance we conquer,” and he named the first boat he purchased for the expeditions Endurance. The saga of the Endurance cannot be understated. The ship ended up getting trapped in ice and the damage from being stuck in the pressure of the icefloe was too much leading the boat to sink when the ice melted. The crew endured months of camping on icefloes, hoping to drift to an island where they had stored more of their supplies. They called the camp “Patience Camp.” It would be another couple of months before they reached safe harbour. The story reminds us of so many others and the fact that endurance is needed to face difficulty and harsh conditions.