“Be on your guard! You will be taken to courts and beaten with whips in their meeting places. And because of me, you will have to stand before rulers and kings to tell about your faith. But before the end comes, the good news must be preached to all nations.

“When you are arrested, don’t worry about what you will say. You will be given the right words when the time comes. But you will not really be the ones speaking. Your words will come from the Holy Spirit.

“Brothers and sisters will betray each other and have each other put to death. Parents will betray their own children, and children will turn against their parents and have them killed. Everyone will hate you because of me. But if you keep on being faithful right to the end, you will be saved.” (Mark 13:9-13)

Taking the hard road will make you happier than taking the easy road. Jesus predicted that very bad things would happen to those who became his followers. Of the twelve original disciples, only John died peacefully of old age. All the others were murdered for their faith in Jesus.

But Jesus promised that those who were faithful to the end would be saved. Saved from what? Our vision is usually too small. We can only see our daily problems. We worry. But we miss the bigger picture. When Jesus told his disciples what was coming, they were thinking of God’s kingdom in physical terms. They expected the re-establishment of the Davidic monarchy. They understood that rebellions were hard. They remembered the stories about David when he was on the run from Saul and all the hardships both he and his men endured. The disciples knew that there would be fighting, that there might be setbacks. But for them, it would be worthwhile once they sat triumphant over the world with Jesus. Any hardship is endurable when one sees the bigger picture and understands the bigger purpose. For the disciples, they saw a big picture. Only later, with Jesus’ death and resurrection, did they realize that their vision of a physical kingdom on earth were insignificant compared to the everlasting Kingdom of Heaven.

Pain in childbirth is worth it for the joy of a new baby, and the years to be for a new human being. Our momentary sorrow is nothing in comparison to the glories to come.

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