Every so often, a line of scripture hits me like a bolt of lightning. That happened in today’s Gospel selection, from Luke, with a verse that I’d read for years before it made an impression.
But let me back up a moment. I’ve been writing for my entire adult life, and a while before then. (I won my first significant award when I was 15 years old.) I’m a man who likes to put my thoughts into words. I think a lot. In my spare time, I’ve studied Catholic apologetics (the art of defending the faith against all manner of believers). I’ve come up with my own arguments about many aspects of our faith . . . like my thoughts on many Protestants’ favorite verse, John 3:16.
So if someone wants to question my faith, belittle the Church, or speak ill of our Lord and Savior, I feel like I’m in good shape to defend the life and legacy of Jesus. I don’t go itching for a fight, but I am confident in my ability to at least hold my own in an argument about my beliefs.
However, today’s selection from the Gospel of Luke has made me question that. Just before this text, Christ talks about signs of the end times. Then today’s reading has Jesus’ revelations about the coming persecution: “They will seize and persecute you, they will hand you over to the synagogues and to prisons, and they will have you led before kings and governors because of my name. It will lead to your giving testimony.”
Although referring to the end times, these words have been just as prescient throughout much of Christian history. We have been seized. We have been imprisoned. Many of us have, in some sense, been lead to giving testimony . . . that is, to defend the faith with our words.
The next line, however, is what resonated so strongly with me: “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 are not to prepare your defense beforehand. Jesus will give you a wisdom in speaking.
In studying apologetics, crafting arguments, and studying my Bible, I’ve been preparing defenses beforehand for years. Have I been doing it wrong?
In a way, yes.
We all know people who are too rehearsed and self-assured in their answers. They’re not listening; they’re waiting for you to stop talking so they can deliver the next zinger, drop another bit of “wisdom,” offer their pre-scripted rebuttal.
Do those efforts convince anyone?
Has your worldview ever been changed when someone offered a rote witticism? It’s a big world; I’m sure it’s happened to someone somewhere. But it’s much more common and likely to sway those who disagree with us through heartfelt words or deeds that arise at the spur of the moment.
I’ve taught religious education before, and I can say with certainty that there have been times when all the preparation and contemplation I’ve spent before class didn’t do nearly as much as the Spirit giving me the words I didn’t know existed on the spur of the moment.
This sentiment goes against our social-media age. We post pictures online with funny sayings that express our thoughts or encapsulate our beliefs. Those posts usually aren’t meant to be the beginning of a conversation, but the end of one; they’re a badge, meant to encourage those who believe the same as we do while often driving those away who disagree with us.
But the Spirit doesn’t work from a script; rather, the Spirit gives the words we need, in the situations where we need them. I would imagine that most things we say with the Spirit’s guidance have never been said exactly that way before; I know when I’ve taught class and said the right thing and wondered where those words came from, I’ve often had a hard time rephrasing or repeating what I said later.
The Spirit does not want me to prepare my defense beforehand. The Spirit prefers I listen . . . listen with my ears and my heart. Then, when the moment is right, the Spirit can provide me with the wisdom I need, such that the one I’m talking with “will be powerless to resist or refute.”
This doesn’t mean the work I’ve done in thinking, reading, and writing has been in vain; having a variety of facts and ideas provides fertile soil for the Spirit to grow its guidance anew. But, ultimately, it’s not about me defending the faith; it’s about the Spirit spreading the Good News and inspiring us to do God’s will on Earth. I’m just the vessel.
If you – like me – have stuck too closely at times to a pre-scripted recipe of truth, waiting to deliver it to those who might listen, consider the possibility of forgetting what you know verbatim and instead turning your words over to the Spirit. Jesus promised that – when it mattered most – he would give all of us the wisdom we need, without preparing our defense beforehand. The essence of our faith is built on the promises of Christ; we know he is there for us, always, in all ways.
