Gospel reading: Jn 15:18-21
Jesus said to his disciples: “If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own; but because you do not belong to the world, and I have chosen you out of the world, the world hates you. Remember the word I spoke to you, ‘No slave is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. And they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know the one who sent me.”
REFLECTIONS
You do not belong to the world
Continuing his discourse at the Last Supper, Jesus makes the disciples understand why they are hated by the world. (The world, in John, refers to people like the Jews who are hostile to Jesus.) The disciples no longer belong to the world, for they now are God’s possession. They have been set apart from the world.
Hatred is only a consequence of their belonging to Jesus. The world hates the disciples because they can no longer be used for the interests of the world. The disciples will never be right in the eyes of the world. Since they choose to follow Jesus, the disciples will also experience rejection and persecution like their Master.
But there is one consolation. Jesus says to them, “If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.” So it pays to be disciples; there is great value in being hated and persecuted. Disciples are ready to take the blows and are not sensitive to ridicule.
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Do you feel loved by the world?
If so, you may still belong to the world.
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SOURCE: “365 Days with the Lord,” ST PAULS, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 895-9701; Fax 895-7328; E-mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.