If Jesus Knows What Is Going To Happen To His Followers, Why Doesn't He Do Something About It?
by Deacon Bob Schnell
In today's reading from John's Gospel (Jn 15:26- 16:4A) Jesus predicts the persecutions which will afflict His followers. They will be expelled from the synagogues. Those who kill the followers of Jesus will think they are worshipping God. Jesus is right in His predictions, of course. Those things and more will happen. Church tradition tells us that all but one of Jesus' apostles (namely, John) will die a martyr. The persecutions aren't the only things which Jesus predicts accurately. There is the destruction of Jerusalem, which Rome will accomplish in 70 AD. And, of course, there is the prediction of Jesus' own death. Interestingly in none of these cases does Jesus seem to be making these predictions to change the outcome. He doesn't say: "They're going to come after you, so here's what you need to do to be prepared to defeat them." Nor does He tell them: "Don't try to rebel. The Romans will crush you." Since Jesus knows the bad things that will happen in the future, why doesn't He do something to try to prevent them? I suppose the simple answer is that Jesus is foretelling the future not to change it, but to help grow the faith of His followers. His hope is that they will more-fully accept the fact that He is the Son of God when they see what He has predicted come to pass. More broadly, the answer is that Jesus didn't come to force His will on the earth, by destroying all evil. If He were to do that, who would be left? But once you start deciding to stop evil activities, like persecutions, where does it end? The world is a fallen place, and to eliminate all that is wrong with it would pretty-much mean getting rid of the whole thing. God tried that with the great flood, and said he'd never do that again. No, Jesus came so that we would love Him-- choose to love Him at that. So, He predicts, but does not modify what is going to happen. Or, in the words of c.S. Lewis: "He woos. He does not ravish."