If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me before it hated you. (15:18)Jesus it trying to let the Disciples know what they will be facing in the very near future. Unfortunately, they will not fully understand until they encounter that hatred first hand.
I don't think anyone can truly prepare you for being hated. The first time you encounter raw, open hatred shocks you to the core. Other kids called me "fag" and "fairy" through most of my youth. I wasn't a jock, and I liked books, so I was a "fag." I did well in school, and teachers liked me, so I was a "fairy." My brother used "faggot" and "stupid idiot," even long after I came out. But none of that was hatred.
I came out during graduate school--although I'd taken the first steps during college. I got involved with the fledgling student group on the U-Wisconsin/Madison campus. One day sitting at an information table in the student union, some students called us names, which wasn't unusual. But a couple of them spit at us. While working on some legislation that year, we encountered conservative religious groups that called us sinners and wished us dead. It was scary to look in these people's faces and see the look in their eyes. Hatred.
One night several of us had been to one of the local gay bars. Three of us were walking home when we were confronted by a gang (well, at least five) of young men who threatened us with physical violence. They chased us for several blocks until we reached a more populated area, and then they disappeared into the night. I didn't leave my apartment for two days. Raw, naked, hatred.
Jesus can tell the Disciples they will be hated. He can tell them why. He can tell them what they should do. But he cannot truly prepare them for what they will face in the coming years. They, and we, can only trust that God will be with us.
Peace,
Jeffri
...and what about Matthew Shepard when he was bashed to death with hatred? Where was God then?
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