Saturday of the Fifth Week of Easter —
John 15:18-21
This Gospel’s opening words are a bit startling. Jesus once
again is talking with his disciples about the world. He tells them: “If the
world hates you, understand that it hated me first.” In this passage, Jesus is
using the word “world” to describe the people who reject Him and who will
persecute Jesus and his followers.
Jesus also tells the disciples that they do not belong to
the world. Most likely, the world will hate them because they do not belong to
the world of the Pharisees. Rather, Jesus has chosen them out of the world to
follow him and his example. The path of following Jesus is a difficult one. Are
we truly ready to truly follow him? This is more than simply giving lip service
to his teachings. If we consciously choose to follow Jesus, we may have to make
difficult choices and in that process, we may alienate some of the people in
our lives.
Following Jesus sounds very romantic and holy. However,
following Jesus may be a difficult journey at times. If we choose to
wholeheartedly follow Jesus, most likely we also will experience rejection or
perhaps even hatred. Jesus clearly was countercultural in his society. Are we
willing to follow Jesus rather than the crowd? Are we prepared to be
countercultural in our beliefs and choices? Are we willing to deal with anger,
rejection, or alienation if we make choices to do what is truly loving and
kind? Do we trust Jesus to walk with us, strengthen and grace us?
The world is not an easy place to live. Each day we have the
opportunity to make a variety of choices. Today will we choose to follow the
crowd and simply do what is expected of us? Or will we choose to follow Jesus
and act as Jesus would? Only we can choose. What will we do?
No comments:
Post a Comment