Hated by the World (John 15:18–16:4)

One of the ideas suggested today for improving relationships within society is the identification of hate crimes, including inappropriate forms of speech. Jesus in this passage informs his disciples that they are going to experience hatred from the world.

In this chapter the Saviour has been describing some of the effects and evidences of abiding in Christ. These effects are seen in three different relationships: with Christ, with fellow believers and with the world. With Christ the relationship involves absorbing his word, praying about it, obeying it, and receiving joy; with Christians the relationship involves brotherly love; with the world the relationship involves facing opposition, including ‘hatred’ and ‘persecution’. These three relationships could and should happen simultaneously.

It is the case that Jesus’ instructions to his disciples deal with many profound subjects such as the nature of God, our relationship to him, the blessings that he gives, the way that he keeps his promises. Yet Jesus also stressed some negative consequences of discipleship, such as intense hatred and opposition.  For example, in the Beatitudes he says: ‘Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake’ (Matt. 5:10-11).

I suspect also that Jesus is saying that believers cannot cope with the hatred unless they are practising the previous two relationships. With regard to the second relationship, when we are hated by one group it is important that we have another group that loves us. And with regard to the first relationship, the existence of the hatred of the world is a teaching of Jesus that we have to absorb and pray about because we have to make an appropriate response to that attitude. If we make the wrong response, we will not have his joy to strengthen us, but if we make the right response we will have his joy.

Perhaps a surprising aspect is the almost matter of fact way that Jesus speaks about hatred. We sometimes are surprised by the emphasis that the New Testament makes regarding opposition because we don’t face physical or verbal opposition to a great extent. But that is not the case in many parts of the world. Throughout the world today many believers are imprisoned for their faith and others suffer various kinds of harassment. Indeed there are many martyrs.

What does Jesus mean by the term ‘world’? He does not mean humans as individuals although at times individuals can oppose Christians. Rather Jesus means the organised opposition to his kingdom that marks human societies. Often this opposition is a combination of political and religious antagonism. This was true in Christ’s own day when the Jewish religious leaders and Roman political leaders opposed his mission. He points out in 16:1-4 that the oppressors believe that they are serving God. This combination of religious and political oppression and persecution has re-appeared many times throughout the centuries.

Three reasons for the opposition

In this passage, Jesus gives three reasons as to why the world will hate his people.

First, they will be hated because they are not part of the world (v. 19a), because they are different (the differences are those that believers develop through abiding in Christ). This is the stigma that many believers face. The obvious deduction to be made from this reason is that there should be a marked difference between the disciples of Jesus and other people. It is not too difficult to suggest that a lack of opposition indicates that the disciple cannot be identified by the world because he lives according to the same standards as the world.

In what ways should a Christian be so different that others will despise him and hate him? There are many ways but I will suggest some. The first way is that a Christian lives in harmony with his fellow-believers. Imagine this scenario: a Jewish Christian and a Palestinian Christian meet in London. At the moment their countries are at war, but they find that they have a lot in common. In fact, they are brothers in the family of God. They love one another, but neither of their countrymen can understand how, and they are despised and hated because they show love to one another.

That may seem an unusual scenario. Yet there are many similar ones taking place where Christian practice breaks down other barriers in addition to the barrier caused by war. There are social barriers linked to class distinctions – a wealthy Christian discovers he loves his poor Christian brother, and the feels the animosity of his wealthy contacts because he associates with a person from another class. There are educational barriers where learned believers in Jesus delight to discuss the things of God with uneducated believers and their scholarly acquaintances cannot tolerate them any more. The harmony that Christ brings about becomes the reason for hatred by those who disapprove of the harmony.

A second way is that a Christian is heavenly-minded and does not share the same outlooks or desires of the world. Paul refers to this in Philippians 3:19-21: Concerning the enemies of Christ, ‘Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.’ The world cannot see beyond this life, their limits are the horizons of this world. Talk of heaven is not merely pie in the sky for them; in addition, it is offensive.

A third way is that a Christian is marked by holiness. He lives according to the standards of God’s Word. His priority is to please God and he is very careful not to displease him. He is a subject of God. But the world is not subject to God and has no desire to be. They are unholy.

A disciple who lives in harmony with all Christians, who is heavenly-minded and who is holy will soon face opposition and hatred from the world.

The second reason that Jesus gives is that they will be hated because they have been chosen by Christ to be his servants (v. 19b). In a sense, this is a description of the roles that Jesus called his apostles to fulfil. But by extension it applies to all Christians as they function in the ways that Jesus has commanded. Although this is difficult to endure, there is an aspect of comfort in it because the existence of opposition indicates the authenticity of their Christian lives.  Therefore this reason is very similar to the previous one except Jesus links the opposition to his involvement in his people’s lives.

This is a reminder that Christians have to be hated for the right reasons: ‘But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler.  Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name’ (1 Pet. 4:16-17).  It is all too easy to be opposed because we are obnoxious or disagreeable. When that happens it is suffering for a wrong reason.

The third reason given by Jesus is that the world hates Christians because they hated Christ (vv. 20-25). This hatred was undeserved because Jesus had no malice towards them; indeed he should have been loved by them because he went about doing good. The hatred was also unreasonable because it resulted in them not experiencing great personal benefit from Jesus.

Why did they hate Jesus? First, because he pointed out their sins to them. He did this by his words and by his works. There are many such examples in the Gospels. One is the occasion when a women caught in the act of adultery was brought to him. Instead of condemning her in isolation, he stated that only those without sin could cast a stone at her. This convicted her accusers but it also made them hate Jesus. They had no interest in rescuing the woman from her sins, but Jesus wanted to do so.

Another incident involved the man born blind whom Jesus healed. The world of religious leaders objected to this healing on the Sabbath, but in the process of events it became clear that although they could physically see they were spiritually blind. The incident concludes with some Pharisees asking Jesus, ‘Are we also blind?’ Jesus said to them, ‘If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, “We see,” your guilt remains’ (John 9:40-41).  His miracle highlighted their sin and increased their opposition.

Secondly, they hated Christ because they did not have a personal relationship with him or with his Father. In other words, they were not depending on him as the Saviour nor did they have any interaction with the Father as his children. Their lack of understanding of who Jesus is caused them to oppose him.

Some benefits

Although Christians will face opposition, they have certain benefits from it. I will mention three. First, they understand a little of what Jesus went through himself as he worked out their salvation. He endured great hostility on his journey to the cross as well as the malice he experienced on the cross. As they think of what he experienced, they have a sense of gratitude to him.

Second, they also discover that they can know the effects of the empathy of Christ. He has been through personally what they are experiencing and is able to succour them sympathetically as well as providing the appropriate grace for persevering in the face. Jesus always acted appropriately when he was derided.

Third, although they are called to witness for Christ in a situation of opposition, they discover that they are enabled to speak for him and remain loyal to him because of the enablement of the Holy Spirit. This is promised by Jesus in verses 26 and 27. He also promised the Spirit in Matthew 10:16-20: ‘Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.  Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles.  When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.’  And Peter says something similar in 1 Peter 4:14: ‘If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.’