In January every year, the charity Open Doors publishes the World Watch List: a list of the 50 countries where persecution of Christians is most severe. If 50 sounds like a large number, bear in mind that the Bible is restricted, banned, or heavily controlled in at least 52 countries. An estimated 400 million Christians live with persecution for their faith.
This makes Christianity the most persecuted faith group in the world, by some distance. However, as today’s passage indicates, this is nothing new. Indeed, it goes right back to Jesus himself. He is soberingly candid about the reality of being his apprentices: (v18, v21) ‘If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first… They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me.’
In fact, in this passage, Jesus gives two more specific reasons why his followers will face opposition. The first is that he has chosen them out of the world: (v19) ‘If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own… but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.’ It’s much easier to swim with the tide. If we simply follow along with the ways of the world, we can avoid all kinds of difficulties. But this is not the Jesus way.
Second, and leading directly from this first observation, Jesus’ teaching is the flashpoint for opposition: (v20) ‘If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also.’ Jesus’ reaching is the greatest wisdom the world has ever known – but it is also a dividing line. People obey it, or refuse it (and even hate it). It shines a light into the darkness, not just in a general sense, but also into the dark corners of our lives and our souls. We can choose to come into the light, or stay in the darkness. (This formed part of the famous discussion with Nicodemus in chapter 3.)
For those who prefer the darkness, not even Jesus’ amazing signs and miracles will sway them (v24). No wonder he quotes the psalms: (v25) ‘They hated me without reason.’
But if it is perverse, it is also real. And many millions of Jesus’ followers pay a daily cost for that. Most of the rest of us may not, but we still face milder forms of marginalisation or ridicule. Today, let’s firstly take heart that Jesus knows and understands: he has walked this way before us, and he has indeed ‘chosen us out of this world.’ Hallelujah! But let’s also pray for our precious sisters and brothers around the world, who have to live this passage as their reality. May they know the true peace of Christ which passes understanding, and may the joy of the Lord be their strength. Amen.