NOTES for Joh 15:18-16:4
18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. |
19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. |
20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. |
21 But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me. |
22 If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin. |
23 He that hateth me hateth my Father also. |
24 If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father. |
25 But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause. |
26 But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: |
27 And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning. |
1 These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended. |
2 They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. |
3 And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me. |
4 But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them. And these things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you. |
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Christ does not promise those who follow Him the conveniences of life or earthly prosperity. We are clearly warned: if someone wants to see Christianity as a way to solve accumulated problems and a means of achieving comfort, he has come to the wrong door. And the Lord does not refuse us help at all: when solving these problems is necessary, He is ready to respond to our petitions and gives us the right and the opportunity to reap earthly fruits as well. But by placing not God Himself at the center of attention, but His gifts, we turn away from Him, perhaps unintentionally, without thinking about it, but this does not change the essence of the matter.
If we choose Christ, we must be ready to face opposition. The call to carry one's cross, addressed to each of the disciples, flows from a clear vision of the reality of evil ruling in the world. One can evade this call if one wishes; however, then we will inevitably be defeated by evil. Evil often looks attractive and tempting, but its weight, unlike the weight of the cross, will both crush us and press us into the mud.
We are also warned that many of the persecutors will be sure they are serving God, but Christ clearly said of such people that they have known neither the Father nor the Son. The persecutors themselves will not agree with such a reproach and in response will begin to refer to their own theological knowledge. But knowledge of ideas about God is still not knowledge of God Himself, and here the warning applies to all of us: persecutors are not the only ones at risk of making such a substitution. As history shows, the persecuted, when circumstances changed, also became persecutors more than once...
Readings for 11 May 2026
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