It’s not Just Jesus who’s Hated

I’m in my usual spot, waiting for my children to come out of school. As on most weekdays at 3.26pm, there are familiar faces milling around this particular patch of grass. We’ve been waiting together on and off for two years now, and I’ve shared cuppas, tears and laughter with them to varying degrees. 

They know I’m a Christian. They know my faith is important enough that I talk about, that I give lots of my time to ‘churchy’ things. But do they know that I’m all about Jesus? 

The Jesus we read of in John. This Jesus who says ‘I am the way, the truth and the life’. This Jesus whose works and words reveal the creator of the universe, but which also reveal our sinful hearts. 

Given that the glory of God is settled on His crucified servant king, John 15 shouldn’t surprise us. ‘If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first’, Jesus tells his disciples. To follow Jesus is to choose a path that does not bend and twist according to the world’s expectations, or desires. 

As I dwell in these verses, and consider the cross-shaped life that we are called to as we follow Jesus, I think of, and pray for, our persecuted brothers and sisters across the world. Those who hold firm to Jesus, whatever the cost. 

I resolve to speak of Jesus, the one whom I follow. Even when the cost - so small in comparison - is felt outside that school gate.