Jn 15: 18-21
”If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me before it hated you. If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own. Because you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world—therefore the world hates you.
Remember the word that I said to you, ‘Servants are not greater than their master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you; if they kept my word, they will keep yours also. But they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.
New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.
Following the Standard of Christ
If the world hates you…
That “if” is doing a lot of work—not just in the opening line, but throughout today’s Gospel. It begs the question: What if the world doesn’t hate me? Is that so bad?
We’re tempted to assume that irritating others through our words, actions, tweets—and garnering subsequent vitriol—means we’ve done God’s work. “I told them what Scripture says; I can’t help how they react.”
Jesus is not proposing the dissolution of amicable discourse. Rather, he’s giving us a compass to set our spiritual course. If we only seek praise and recognition—and the honors and riches that follow—we’ll quickly find ourselves astray of God’s dream.
Rejection, poverty, humility—even hatred: these are undesirable. And yet, they are the standard of Christ, signposts along the way.
Discernment is key. If I take this next step, will it lead me to Christ—or not?
—Eric A. Clayton is the author of Cannonball Moments: Telling Your Story, Deepening Your Faith, and the deputy director of communications at the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States.
Prayer
Good and gracious God, help me to orient myself to you, keeping your standard in front of me as I take the next step in my life. Open my heart to hear you and respond to your invitation. Amen.
—Jesuit Prayer team