The Gospel for Wednesday of the 34th week in Ordinary Time is taken from Luke 21:12 19. Jesus said to the crowd, they will seize and persecute you. They will hand you over to the synagogue and to prisons, and they will have you led before kings and governors because of my name. It will lead to your giving testimony. Remember, you are not to prepare your defense beforehand, for I myself shall give you a wisdom in speaking that all your adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute. You will even be handed over by parents, brothers, relatives and friends, and they will put you to death.

You will be hated by all because of my name, for not a hair of your head will be destroyed by your perseverance. You will secure your lives. When someone is treated poorly, when they are persecuted, when they are threatened with death, the typical response to that is major resistance. But what Jesus is describing here is there’s a way in which, if you accept it without resistance, there is a testimony that is so powerful. To see a person not take care of themselves implies that someone is taking care of them, that they will not really ultimately be harmed. It had to be very confusing and certainly created anger toward one who would have this gift when they did not.

After the music, I will close with a prayer. Foreign. Closing prayer. Father, when we experience someone who simply refuses to be angry or resentful for the things that happen to them, it is very much of a puzzle. How can they do that? Where do they find that kind of acceptance?

And it comes because they understand you, they know you, and they know that anything that comes to you is for you. And it is a witness that is so important. And we ask this in Jesus name, Amen.