you will be given what you are to say. For it will not be you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father, speaking through you.
Brother will hand over his brother to death, and a father his child; children will turn against their parents and
have them put to death. Everyone will hate you because of me, but whoever stands firm to the end will be saved.
When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next. I tell you the truth, you will not have passed through all
the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.
REFLECTION:
While many Christians are already enjoying religious freedom in China, millions continue to suffer under the government’s
crackdown on faith-communities. The easy targets are small churches not belonging to recognized religious institutions.
These communities resist compromise with the Communist party line. Their adherents are then deprived of state welfare,
their leaders tortured, their houses of worship burned. They are like sheep among wolves—defenseless.
But Bob Fu, the founder of a religious rights group, insists they will survive because they have Christ.
“These campaigns have been done in Roman times, under Stalin, under Mao, yet Christ prevailed. We will prevail,”
Bob Fu said in an interview. Being hopeful of survival amid these persecutions requires the cleverness encouraged
by Jesus in our Gospel. It also points to Christ’s active presence in these places. We are then challenged to animate
our faith as intensely as our persecuted brothers and sisters of today.
© Copyright Bible Diary 2020