Truth Nobody Wants to Hear
A Reflection on Luke 21:12-19
You think you're
ready to follow Jesus until you read Luke 21:12-19. Then you realize what you
signed up for. Betrayal. Persecution. Family turning against you. Friends
walking away. Jesus lays it out plain: "They will hand you over to
synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors
because of my name." And here's the thing, he's not warning us so we can
avoid it. He's warning us so we won't be shocked when it happens. Most of us
want a faith that makes life easier, that gives us peace and prosperity and
good vibes. But Jesus offers something different: a faith that makes us
dangerous to the world's priorities. A faith that will cost us. And if we're
honest, most days we're not sure we want to pay that price. That's the humility
we need to start with, admitting that when push comes to shove, we'd often
rather be comfortable than faithful.
The hardest part
isn't even the persecution from strangers. It's verse 16: "You will be
betrayed even by parents, brothers and sisters, relatives and friends."
The people who know you best, who've loved you longest, will hand you over.
Think about that. Your witness to Christ might cost you Christmas dinner. Your
conviction might create a chasm between you and your own mother. Following
Jesus doesn't always bring families together, sometimes it tears them apart,
because truth divides before it unites. This isn't because Christianity is
harsh; it's because real love refuses to participate in comfortable lies. How
many times in conversations around the dinner table is there an uproar when discussing
politics, abortion or the pride of living a selfish life? When you stop going
along with family dysfunction, when you won't laugh at the cruel, dirty joke, when you
choose integrity over keeping the peace, you become a problem, the outcast. And Jesus says
this will happen. He's not surprised by it. The question is: are we humble enough
to accept that our faithfulness might make us lonely?
Here's where the
Rosary stops being a ritual and becomes a lifeline. When you pray the Sorrowful
Mysteries, you're walking with Christ through his worst hours, and you're
walking with Mary through hers. She stood at the foot of the cross and watched
everything she loved tortured to death. She didn't get a miracle rescue. She
got endurance. The Rosary doesn't teach us how to avoid suffering; it teaches
us how to suffer with Christ instead of alone. Every Hail Mary is a
small act of defiance against despair, a quiet insistence that love is stronger
than death even when it doesn't look like it. When you're betrayed, when you're
abandoned, when your witness costs you everything, that's when those repetitive
prayers become oxygen. You're not just saying words. You're breathing in the
pattern of faithfulness that Mary and Jesus laid down. You're training your
heart to endure what it cannot understand.
Jesus makes this
promise in verse 18: "But not a hair of your head will perish." And
then he says some of you will be put to death. So, which is it? Both. He's
telling us that what the world can destroy isn't actually you. Your body, your
reputation, your comfort, those can all be taken. But you, the eternal
soul that God knows and loves, that's untouchable. The world doesn't have
jurisdiction there. This is either nonsense or it's the most important truth
you'll ever hear. If this life is all there is, then persecution is pure loss
and martyrdom is waste. But if Jesus is right, if there's a reality beyond what
we can see, then endurance isn't just survival, it's victory. Gaining your life
by losing it isn't poetic language. It's physics in the kingdom of God. But we
have to be humble enough to believe that Jesus knows better than we do about
what's worth keeping and what's worth losing.
So, here's the
straightforward truth: if your faith never costs you anything, you might want
to check if you're actually following Jesus or just cultural Christianity. Real
discipleship shows up in your checkbook, your calendar, your relationships,
your choices when nobody's watching. It shows up when you speak truth and lose
friends. When you forgive and people call you weak. When you love your enemy
and your own side calls you a traitor. Today’s gospel isn't calling us to seek
persecution like we're collecting merit badges. It's calling us to be so rooted
in truth and love that we're willing to pay whatever it costs. Pick up your
Rosary as a training ground. Meditate on Jesus’ willingness to endure, on
Mary's willingness to stand there and watch. Let it shape you into someone who
can bear the weight of faithfulness. Because the world doesn't need more people
who talk about Jesus. It needs people who'll follow him when following him
means walking toward a cross which in turn gives you your cross. That's the
invitation. It's terrifying and it's beautiful and it's the only thing worth
giving your life to.
©2025 James Dacey, Jr., OFS
