Could That Be What Jesus Meant?
Matt 10:22
All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved
Mark 13:13
All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.
Luke 6:22
Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man.
Luke 21:17
All men will hate you because of me.
These 4 verses are thrown around in the US Christian culture a lot. It’s a “badge of courage”. The problem is that Jesus was not only talking to His disciples, many of whom were martyred, but also, across the ages to Christians in places like China, Sudan, and the Middle East. I do not think that Jesus was talking to us, here and now, to give us an excuse to be careless and unkind. If my basic understanding of the Scriptures is correct, those who were persecuting Jesus, and then the church, were the religious system and the empire of Rome. Persecution came as a result of challenging the Pharisees. Persecution came because Jesus challenged the empire that oppressed and abused those who were weak. I do not see evidence that persecution came because Jesus hated first.
“All men will hate you because of me.” How we love this statement. We love it because, if we can say it’s true, it somehow proves that we are genuine followers of Jesus. We love it because, if we can say it’s true, it puts us in good company. We love it because, if we can say it’s true, we will grow spiritually through the persecution. The problem is that most people that throw this statement around are taking it out of context and using it to be insufferably arrogant and cruel.
Think about the times you have heard one of the above Scriptures used. What was the context?
· People will hate you because they don’t like their sinfulness being exposed.
· People will hate you because they look pretty good until contrasted with true righteousness.
· People will hate you because you don’t laugh at their dirty jokes.
· People will hate you because you believe in 6-day creation.
· People will hate you because you picket at abortion clinics.
· People will hate you because you call homosexuality an abomination.
AMEN, Brother! REJOICE in the persecution!!! Now, perhaps the above examples are the far leaning “right” kinds of examples. However, I recall a conversation recently with a friend. This friend is not what I would call a fundamentalist. I was talking to him about Rob Bell, and how I love the fact that Rob focuses on the redemption of the world and Jesus’ love, the fact that Rob doesn’t use all the “churchy” language like “substitutionary atonement”. My friend replied, “It doesn’t matter how we talk, or if we change our approach to presenting the Gospel, because the world hates us.” It doesn’t matter. Really? It doesn’t matter…because all men will hate us. Then what are we doing? What’s the point? No wonder we all just sit around waiting to get to heaven. There’s no point doing anything in this world, because all men will hate us, anyway.
Isn’t this just a tired old excuse to be judgmental and hateful? Or an excuse to not have to examine the way we’ve been doing things in the Church? Or an excuse to stay locked within the church walls fraternizing with all the other Christians that the world hates? Could it be that when Jesus said the world will hate us, he meant that they will hate us because we are breaking the dominions, empires and structures of this world that oppress? That we are truly setting captives free, not just from their own sin, but also from the sins of others? That we are setting people free from religious institutions that keep people from the freedom that Jesus promised? Could that be what he meant?
Jesus challenged the power hierarchies. He challenged the hierarchies of kingdom, religious structures, wealth and social status. When Jesus said the world will hate you because of me, could it be that we would be hated because we;
· Love everyone, not just those we call our “brothers and sisters”.
· Invite the lame, poor, maimed and blind to our parties.
· Do not continue to amass wealth within an unjust system.
· Proclaim that in the Kingdom of God there are no slaves or masters, no men or women, no teachers or students.
· Challenge the systems that tie up heavy loads and put them on men’s shoulders.
· Have fellowship with outcasts, thus rejecting the views of those who demand separateness from an unclean world.
Could that be what Jesus meant?
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Wow! This is such a great thought-provoking post. I agree that the claim of “persecution” gets thrown around a lot and I can’t remember a time where the one claiming to be persecuted really used it correctly. I do see it used as an excuse to be obnoxious and condemning of others. It is like we have a right to be condescending and have an “in your face attitude” about our pet issues.
I think you are accurately taking the whole of scripture in your interpratation of these verses. Jesus didn’t go around railing at the homosexuals, fornicators feminists and Democrats. He came to set the captives free and He attacked the religious leaders who were holding people hostage with their legalism and extra-biblical commandments and traditions of men.
Great thoughts! I am off to do some study on these verses.
Great thoughts - the idea of the powerful bowing to Christ is what is projected, and that really comes down to the world hating us because Christianity in general advocates (or should) the idea that Christ permeates all things, making us all equal before him. One reason Christ himself was hated was because he appealed to those excluded at the time, especially women and the poor.
Corrie,
I agree. We can sometimes use this verse to shove our ideas in people’s face, which, as you pointed out, Jesus did not do.
If you come up with more thoughts on this, let me know. I’m currently reading a book by Walter Wink called the “The Powers That Be”…you should check it out.
Virgil-
Yes-Followers of Jesus SHOULD be advocating this, but unfortunately, in our Western Culture, we see very little of this. I’m just learning these concepts and digging myself out of the judgmental, self-righteousness that many believe are the values of christianity, so these posts are as much for myself as for anyone.
Thanks for the encouragment. How are you doing? I saw that you might have a diagnosis….has it been confirmed yet? I’m still praying for you.
Jamie
Thought provoking.
We should not be using his “All men will hate you too” comments as an excuse to avoid doing what we know is necessary.
Jamie … I just **knew** you were reading Wink when I read this post. You will never go back my friend …
Wow - excellent post, Jamie! I couldn’t agree more. I have long felt that is SO disrespectful to our brothers and sisters around the world who are suffering imprisonment, torture and even death for their faith when pampered American Christians whine about “persecution.”
There are Scripture passages, including the Revelation of John, which are directed to Christ followers suffering oppression and which encourage them to persevere and remain hopeful in the face of great trials. And there are Scripture passages directed at Christ followers who have power and privilege, warning them about the dangers of pride, violence and materialism and urging them to use their resources to do justice and to care for the needy.
American Christians are in the second category. But rather than hear and accept the challenging words directed at the wealthy and powerful, we have preferred to fancy ourselves in the first category.
Trekant–I completely agree. Nor should we be using this statement to DO the things we shouldn’t….
Sonja,—LOL. I’m LOVING this book. I just keep going over it and over it. So rich. I do believe you are right…I will not ever go back
Rachel,
I love that contrast. You are so right. If we grab onto the persecution verses, we can then pretend that the others don’t apply. We are already “suffering” in the name of Jesus. Wow.
it’s a bit strange isn’t it when God calls us also to be peace makers and ambassadors of reconcilaiton that we delight in deliberately pissing people off as if that is gonna make them warm to Jesus anymore? For me i think it is fine for christians to take a moral stance but make it consistent and its not just about saying what we think but doing something about it - too often we just don’t follow through on actions that are loving, that involve us in solutions that see us paying a real price in terms of our time, energy and cash to do something like Jesus would…
Paul—Absolutely. Abortion comes to mind. So many christians go on and on about it…however, how many christians are adopting special needs kids, or taking in unwed mothers…or giving $$ to single mothers. Our money needs to go where our mouths are. (or our hearts)