24 May 2014 - haters: not necessarily gonna hate
“If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first.
Jesus definitely provokes an anger in some of his contemporaries which can be difficult to understand. He comes to the world and speaks to us. He speaks that we might have joy, peace, and love. He speaks not to condemn us but that we might have life. He comes to us with mighty deeds such as the world has never seen in order to reveal the Father's love.
If I had not done works among them that no one else ever did, they would not have sin; but as it is, they have seen and hated both me and my Father.
But somehow all that Jesus does often provokes the opposite reaction. And this has to be because the only invitation which Jesus can offer is an invitation to repent. This is because he doesn't want to leave us in the condition in which he finds us.
For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, deluded, slaves to various desires and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful ourselves and hating one another. (cf. Tit. 3:3).
It is quite a pitiable condition we're in apart from him. He comes to us and finds a people in dire need of rescue.
You were dead in your transgressions and sins in which you once lived following the age of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the disobedient. All of us once lived among them in the desires of our flesh, following the wishes of the flesh and the impulses, and we were by nature children of wrath, like the rest (cf. Eph. 2:1).
Jesus invites us to a better way. But for some reason we can be really attached to the broken parts of ourselves. Jesus points out our wounds. But if we believe that we are our wounds we feel attacked. When we feel attacked we close ourselves off. We don't take the risk of trusting Jesus. We hear him condemning what we do, the broken behaviors that promise happiness but leave us empty, and we take it personally. He offers a new way of living, a self-less way of living. He reveals the life he shares with the Father as the only alternative to slavery to our passions a society full of malice, envy, and hatred.
Once we accept this free and unmerited offer Jesus begins to dwell in us. He begins to manifest his unity with the Father in us. This means that we ourselves become a revelation of this life to the world. We ourselves become God's offer of mercy to the world. And the world cannot accept it. Jesus wants to prepare us for this. He wants us to be strong and ready when we experience it. The world can't accept it because it is under the power of the devil. It is the systemic brokenness that opposes God along with the flesh and the devil. But Jesus wants us to call individuals out from this system just as we ourselves were called from it.
And they will do all these things to you on account of my name,
because they do not know the one who sent me.”
They do not know now, but we were once like them, we ourselves were once just as foolish if not more so. That means there is hope for everyone. There is grace enough for everyone! Even as we reveal the need for repentance by the life of the Trinity in us we should also reveal the endless mercy of God.
And this revelation is not passive. We should be like Paul constantly seeking to "proclaim the Good News" wherever he can. We should be open to the guidance of the Spirit just as he is. The Holy Spirit is trustworthy. If we start in the wrong direction he will stop us if we are paying attention to him.
because they had been prevented by the Holy Spirit
from preaching the message in the province of Asia.
And he will guide us to the places he intends us to go, to the circumstances into which he desires us to bring him.
When he had seen the vision,
we sought passage to Macedonia at once,
concluding that God had called us
And he will not stop. He won't leave people ignorant of Jesus and the Father. He expresses his desire through the psalmist, "Let all the earth cry out to God with joy."
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