they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will keep yours as well. All this they will do to you on account of my name,
because they do not know the One who sent me.
Reflection:
After a long discourse on the commandment of love and
asking the disciples to abide in his love, Jesus now breaks the
news of the intense hatred the world will have for the gospel
and his disciples. It is as if all his talk on love was to prepare
them to have the courage to face the hatred by the strength
of love. He also wants them to remember that the world hated
him already and to follow his own example of how to take
in the hate of the world and transform it into energies of
love, drawing upon the Love in which they abide. And this
is true. There was, is, and will be no other way before the
world to heal violence than the model of Christ: facing hatred
with the power of love. The life of every apostle and the saints
and martyrs who followed is a testament to this truth.
© Copyright Bible Diary 2022