READ Mark 13:9–13
As for yourselves, beware; for they will hand you over to councils; and you will be beaten in synagogues; and you will stand before governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them. And the good news must first be proclaimed to all nations. When they bring you to trial and hand you over, do not worry beforehand about what you are to say; but say whatever is given you at that time, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit. Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death; and you will be hated by all because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.
MEDITATE
If this is what it takes to blossom, to grow, to transform the world, then maybe I don’t want any part of it. I sure didn’t sign up for this when I was baptized at twelve, called to full-time ministry at fifteen, or graduated from college at twenty-two. Not even in graduate school, with its thousands of pages of reading and reams of essays written, was I prepared for this. At all those stages of my life, I was earnest, serious, expectant.
But I certainly didn’t expect this! According to Jesus, the Holy Spirit shows up when our backs are against the wall, when death is breathing down our necks, when families are shattered by the grimace of hostility.
This promise—or is it a warning?—is remarkable. It’s the only promise of the Spirit in the Gospel of Mark, and it occurs in a context riddled with warnings. So much for spiritual bliss!
Here then is the insight for today: the strength of our spirituality becomes apparent when it is put to the test in the public sector. It’s startling that Jesus, in Mark’s gospel, pinpoints only a single occasion when the Spirit is available to the disciples. The Spirit speaks when there is vicious, official persecution of people in mission who are handed over, against their will, to Jewish councils. People about to be flogged in synagogues and dragged before governors and kings. The Holy Spirit will speak to these people, and, from the looks of it, only these people.
In other gospels, Jesus promises the Holy Spirit in different contexts. In the Gospel of John, Jesus promises the Paraclete, who will lead the disciples into the truth and remind them of all that he said (John 14:26). In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus promises the Spirit to those who ask for the Spirit (Luke 11:13). Here, in the gospel of Mark (the Gospel of Matthew, too, for that matter), Jesus makes one promise and one promise only: the Holy Spirit will speak through believers caught in the grip of persecution.
Then, just when we thought it couldn’t get any worse, it does. What will the Holy Spirit say? Not words of successful self-defense. Not sermons that dazzle, convincing an audience to release these innocent prisoners. The Spirit will speak only a word of testimony, of witness, of martyrion—from which the English word martyr comes. The Spirit will bear witness to the good news—the gospel—of Jesus. The Holy Spirit will not rescue Christians.
How then to survive under the pressure cooker of trials? Not by the radical rescue of the Holy Spirit. The road to survival is gritty, paved by faithful followers “who endure to the end” in the face of hostility and hatred. Along this road, the Spirit speaks a word of testimony to the good news of Jesus Christ—not a word of relief.
How wrong I’ve been about all of this! I’ve cherished the belief that the Spirit brings peace and joy to everyone, even an occasional miracle to a few. I like the translation Comforter in the King James Version of John’s gospel (John 14:26). I like the idea of spiritual gifts of generosity, healing, and prophecy (1 Corinthians 12:4–11). I like the notion of spiritual fruits, such as love, joy, peace, patience, and kindness (Galatians 5:22–23). Because I like those qualities of the Spirit, I want to escape from Jesus’s words in Mark’s gospel.
So I’ve come to face it: I tend to like a gospel that tells me everything will work out in the end and that the Spirit will give me everything I need for abundant living in the meantime. I don’t want a Spirit that shows up at the last minute to give me words that seal my fate.
There is peace and joy and community in the Holy Spirit. I hope you know that from our first thirty-six days together. But there is also this strange promise, which should prompt us—sigh—to ask whether our actions and words are extreme enough to put us on trial so that we are able to hear the Holy Spirit speak a word of gospel truth to the world.
REFLECT
PRAY
Holy Spirit
In disarray and darkness and death
In betrayals and beatings and bereavement
A whiff of truth
A word for Jesus
This is all I ask of you
My soul’s sole request
My heart’s heartfelt prayer
Because to follow Jesus to the cross is the best of life
And to hear a solitary word from you is the best in death
Just a whiff of truth
And a word for Jesus, please
Amen
