John 15:18-16:4
18 “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. 20 Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ t If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. 21 They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me. 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 Whoever hates me hates my Father as well. 24 If I had not done among them the works no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. As it is, they have seen, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. 25 But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me without reason.’ c
26 “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me. 27 And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.
16:1“All this I have told you so that you will not fall away. 2 They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God. 3 They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me. 4 I have told you this, so that when their time comes you will remember that I warned you about them. I did not tell you this from the beginning because I was with you, [1]
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What strikes me in this passage are Jesus words about being hated, persecuted and even killed because of our relationship with him. And He essentially promises that we will be treated the same what He was treated.
Do I take that to heart? Or do I find myself expecting on the other hand that the more my life resembles Jesus, the better people will treat me, the more they will like me, and the more “successful” my ministry and witness? Granted, that will happen among those who follow Christ, on those who are receptive to Him on some level. But Jesus promises that one of the results of following Him will be hatred and persecution. It’s not that we seek out or welcome this hatred, but rather that we are not surprised when it comes.
This is the other side of the world seeing Jesus in us. That’s the goal of our discipleship, to grow in the character and competence of Christ, to grow to become more and more like Him, so that the world sees Him in us and experiences His love and truth from us. This is what we strive for and our Christian hope is the perfect realization of our oneness with Christ in eternity.
But Jesus’s words are a reality check for His disciples. The other side of looking more and more like Him is being hated like He was, and being persecuted.
Jesus also has words of encouragement also. The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, will be with us. Despite the opposition that He promises will come, He calls on us to continue to testify, confident that the Holy Spirit is at work testifying in us and through us.
I can’t help but think of Christians in parts of the world who are experiencing the truth of these words in brutal reality daily. As their brothers and sisters in Christ, we are to remember them always in our prayers, that the Advocate work in and through them and that they be protected from those who hate and persecute and kill.
But I also pray for my own witness. Fear of rejection and opposition and ridicule often silences us. We are not faced with the threat of over persecution, and yet we often act like we are. Jesus calls us to manage our expectations, assures us that opposition is normal and expected, but the Holy Spirit is with us. He says to us, “Yes, some will reject your witness. Witness anyhow. You are not alone.”
So my prayer is for those who are facing persecution because of their faith in Jesus. And my prayer is for my own witness, that I embrace in confident of the Spirit’s presence with me.
What is the Word leading you to pray about today?
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[1] The New International Version. 2011 (Jn 15:18–16:4). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
