The Better Farewell: Hating & Being Hated

"And just maybe, He'll make me a little less cranky."

Our prayer for ourselves this week closes this conversation on John 15:18-16:4, and what it means for the world to hate Jesus' disciples for no reason other than it hates Him. But many questions emerge in this meditation; for one thing, what is hatred? How does it contrast against love? And what planks might we have lodged in our own eyeballs that we need to dig out before we cry "wolf"? Is it possible we carry a persecution complex that we try to sanctify with passages like this one?

The Farewell Discourse offers us some of Scripture's most powerful passages to transform the water of our hearts, minds, and lives into the "better wine" produced when we "abide in the Vine." May we examine ourselves—better yet, allow Scripture to examine us—and allow these words in John's record of Jesus' final moments before His arrest wash over us, and make us better witnesses to the world around us.