I think it was Mark Twain who once observed that the Bible is far too brutal a book to read to children. And in truth, despite the longstanding practice of having devotions at the dinner table and reading the Bible to our children, a good deal of what is actually said by even Jesus can be chilling. Luke 21 is a passage we'd all rather not hear. We want Jesus to say something else. We want a different set of predictions and an alternative set of promises. We want Jesus to say, "Don't worry about trials and persecutions for I shall deliver you from them before they happen." We want Jesus to say, "The world will be so impressed by the church's rhetoric, accomplishments, and proclamations that they won't dare lay a hand on you to begin with."

We want the ecclesiastical equivalent of "Homeland Security" that will seal up our borders from evildoers and proffer us protection into the future. Instead of that Jesus assures us that when it comes to the world's hatred of us on account of his very name, there's nothing for it. It will happen. But he will remain with us and in us when it does.