Love and hate (John 15:17-27) 120607
Last weekend, I watched a drama serial called "The Condor Heroes". Though it is originated from a kungfu novel, but I always find that it is more of a love story than kungfu novel. There is one famous phrase used repeatedly in this novel, that is, "Asked the world, what is love? That can cause people to commit their lives and death to it."
Of course, the love here is talking about a loving relationship between a man and a woman. Many people have idolized this kind relationship and made it something one would live or die for. It has become and included element of mystery to it. People have also glamorized this kind of relationship by portraying it with painting, music, poetry and stories. I am not against this ideology, but I think the love of God for us is even greater than this.
And Jesus, as God, demonstrated His love for us by going to the Cross, while we were yet sinners (Rom. 5:8). I cannot imagine anyone else will do that. He even gave us the command to love one another (v17).
Every time I read this passage, I always think that how come Jesus asked His disciples to hate the world? Actually, it is because the word "hate" appears so often in this passage, that cause me to think that Jesus was teaching His disciple not to love the world and hate it. NO!
In fact, Jesus was simply telling His disciples to be ready for a world that will hate them (v18, 19) and gave them the reason for this. It is Jesus that the world hates (or rather does not accept) and therefore it seemed that the world hates the disciples (v18, 24). Why does the world hates Jesus? Simple. Jesus came and revealed to them their sinfulness (v24). This is part of the Gospel: All men have sinned (Rom. 3:23). None of us can escape from this truth. The world knows that. But the world refused to be humbled and accept that Jesus is the only way to redeem their sins.
I can imagine the struggles that we Christians are facing in the world. The world that you and I living in will not tell us straight to the face that it hates us. But we know that if we try to obey the word of God in our life and live it, we will sense obstacles and oppositions. Recently, I met up with some of my good old friends together with their spouses for lunch. We were casually chatting about starting family and I was asked how many children do I want. To me, the number of children is non issue, if possible, I hope to have four and I don’t mind even more. That is provided, it is God’s will for us to have so many children, and my wife and I will take it one at a time. But the idea of having more than two children was somehow discouraged by some of my friends. They were looking at things from the economical side of it and questioned my ability to provide my children with material needs in the future. I appreciate their views and can empathize with them as we were in the pressured-cooker society, but I defer that I have to provide my children with what the world (or their future friends) says they need materially. I am not against of providing my children with basic material needs, and if I can afford, I will want to give them more. But I think that is not the most crucial thing that my children really need, it is love and care and Christ that my children need. These are the things that can carry them far into the future and even into eternity.
The world hates us, but not because of us. It is because of Jesus, we face such opposition from the world. But the Jesus did not leave us alone. He sent us the Holy spirit to help us to be His witness to the world (v26). We will have the power and strength to stand against all odds.
Do you face the same opposition in life too? Are you stressed out by the pressure from your boss or colleagues to perform in your work? Are you informed by the world that you have to commit yourself to your job before God? It is alright to miss quite time, or cell group, or church service, because you have to complete the work your boss gave to you. How about the assignment God gave you? Are you swayed by the advertisement that you need the latest hand phone or laptop or some other gadgets to be in? How about knowing and having a good grasp of the disciple personality? Are you stressed out with wedding preparation as you listen to your peers suggestion what can make it more cool and memorable? You are ready to spend time and money to plan and prepared for the wedding, but how about spending time to build the relationship that the marriage need?
I can go on and on, but the bottom line is: who is the one that we want to love us? Jesus or the world? If we love Jesus, the world will hate us. If we loves the world, we will hate Jesus. But the truth remains: Jesus still loves us.
