GOSPEL, John (15: 18-21)
Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ according to Saint John
The World’s Hatred
18 “If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me before it hated you. 19 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. 20 Remember the word that I said to you, ‘Servants[b] are not greater than their master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you; if they kept my word, they will keep yours also. 21 But they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.
The Gospel of the Lord
REFLECTION
The hatred of the world for Christ’s disciples is constant from the life of the first communities to the present day … Christ was persecuted in the first place, he came out victorious as it will also happen with every Christian. Separated from the world, the divine but painful message lives intimately:
19 “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.”
What happened to Christ will inevitably happen to his followers;
“Remember the word that I said to you, ‘Servants are not greater than their master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you”
The persecuted Christian reaches a deeper knowledge of Jesus. This in turn gives a fuller meaning to their own life as a source of salvation and a greater value of their own Cross to bear.
“I have said this to you, so that in me you may have peace. In the world, you face persecution. But take courage; I have conquered the world!” (John 16:33).
To be a Christian in the world is to witness with gladness the generous gift of love paid for by Christ and be willing, as did the Apostles in their ministries, to suffer rejection, persecution and violence but still prepared to follow Him onto death.
The teachings and example that Jesus offered, give rise to a new meaning of Life, which is, that by faith we have been justified and are reborn before God, expectant of redemption, salvation and a joyful resurrection.
To love your brethren, especially the poorest and most rejected, is to give witness of the triumphant passage of light over darkness. To live in the Lord with faith and to feel his presence in all our activities is, in short, to be a permanent builder of the kingdom of Love and Peace.
PRAYER
We thank you, God our Father, because in Christ you chose to live with us without being of this world. It gives us strength to be witnesses of the good news and gives us purpose in the difficult obstacles of life. Amen.