If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first.
The way we tend to imagine Jesus is not nearly as provocative as it seems that he actually was. Certainly he was kind and gentle, but not so kind or so gentle that he would shrink from a hard word when one was needed. He did not allow the merely human good of momentary comfort to obscure the more import good of relationship with God. Hence he was willing to call out hypocrisy when he saw it and to condemn sin for what it was. We tend to imagine a Jesus whose main priority was to never upset anyone. In the (probably rare) instance that correction was indeed necessary our image of Jesus would have predicted only a winsome and persuasive argument that charmed his opponents into accepting the message. But instead we discover that Jesus, the real Jesus, came to set fire on the earth (see Luke 12:49). He was never interested in comfort at the expense of truth. He intentionally upset his opponents because then at least they could not remain lukewarm or indifferent. He did all of this for their sakes, in order to heal and convert them. But that did not prevent them from responding to him by putting him to death.
If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own;
Because we belong to Jesus we are not permitted to compromise the truth for the sake of lesser goods. We must not be hypocrites who wear the mask of religion to conceal a massive compromise with the world and its ways. As Christians we tend to avoid a lot of potentially upsetting ways of proceeding because our main priority is often only to get along with others. We have ceased to be provocative in the way that Jesus was provocative and so have lost his ability to speak in a way that opens others to transformation.
There are Christians in our world who are intentionally provocative and aggressive, but rather than imitating the style of Jesus and his absolute allegiance to his heavenly Father and to truth, they instead ape the combative and hostile discourse of the world around them. They speak, not to open hearts, but to exercise power over them and in the hope of being pridefully victorious. Jesus, by contrast, was willing to speak what he should even if it resulted in shame, defeat, and ultimately his death. He did not promise himself the reward of temporal gloating in order to say what needed to be said. He said what he did out of love, and no matter the cost to himself personally.
but because you do not belong to the world,
and I have chosen you out of the world,
the world hates you.
We have been chosen by Jesus himself, designated to follow in his footsteps and to be his hands and feet in the world. There is no way to succeed at this task without being provocative to the point that we are in some measure persecuted. We don't seek the persecution itself. But it is a good sign that we are still separated enough from the world to be able to speak to it from a place from which we might have something to offer. The fact of persecution isn't meant to make us feel sorry for ourselves. It isn't meant to make us act as entitled victims. It is rather a given that we are meant to understand so that it doesn't seem unusual or unplanned. The world resists change even though it is also at the same time desperate for it. It is in large measure a self-protective system resistant to any outside intervention. We are meant to be in this world but not of it, because only then can we speak to it as our master did.
If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.
The message is not that we are doomed to a hopeless pursuit that yields no fruit. It is rather to expect that their are towns which won't welcome us, the dust of which we will need to brush from our feet. The message is that if we aren't willing to face rejection it is unlikely we will ever find much success.
Brothers and sisters, we probably all need much help and grace to embrace the provocative Gospel message of Jesus as he would have us do. Most of us have been living on such terms with the world that we couldn't imagine upsetting anyone, ever, for any reason. And it is true enough that we are not called to go out to be aggressive and argumentative just for the sake of provocation. We will only find the right way forward if we follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit. He will know the moments, the audiences, and even the words we ought to use. And he will tell us, if we listen, just as he did for those early disciples in the book of Acts. It is with him and nothing else that the world is meant to be set ablaze.
When they came to Mysia, they tried to go on into Bithynia,
but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them,
...
When he had seen the vision,
we sought passage to Macedonia at once,
concluding that God had called us to proclaim the Good News to them.
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