Jesus had been talking about the world’s hatred
against the Father, against Himself and against the disciples. Here He told
them with specificity. He spoke to forewarn them because to be forewarned is to
be forearmed. His main reason for doing so was to ensure His disciples then,
and believers today, would not go astray as a result of the severe trials. Jesus
was preparing in reality His people.
He specifically told the disciples to be
prepared for excommunication by their enemies. This term excommunication is
about putting someone out of fellowship from the believers’ community. This
seems to suggest that some persecution might come right from within the
believers’ community. It’s sad to be maligned by the world and people outside
of the fellowship. What’s difficult to stomach is when one is put into cold
storage by fellow believers. Those persecutors who had set their mind to
destroy genuine believers could even think that they were doing God a favor. It’s sad to think that persecution could be
mistaken as doing God’s will.
Jesus was telling the Jews that persecution was
a certainty. And He is also warning us believers today. The many accounts of
believers having to suffer in different parts of the world bear testimony to
the truth to what Jesus had spoken. He said, “These things they will do because they have not known the Father
or Me.” He made it clear that persecution was an inevitable consequence for
following Him. Genuine believers would have to suffer for their belief. The reason for this, He said,
was because the persecutors were perfectly ignorance of the Father or of the Son.
Jesus the Son came to make the Father known, hence to ignore Jesus is as good
as ignoring the Father. Notice that Jesus did not say “My Father,” He refer to God
as “the Father.” Here Jesus wanted the Jews to know that in reality they were
rejecting God, their Father.
The hostility that would come against believers
were essentially to get at Christ. He is the reason for all the attacks. He did
not tell them earlier because He was with them. He was physically present to
guide them so there was no necessity to make known the intensity of the impending
trials. But now that He was about to depart to the Father, whatever He had to
bear would be directed at His followers. So Jesus wanted believers not to be
taken by surprise at the hostility they would be encountering. So that instead
of feeling crushed by the trials, believers should be strengthened because
everything Jesus said would be proven to be true. As far as Jesus was concerned,
there was no necessity to make known the intensity of the trials while He was physically
present with the disciples. But now that His departure was looming, He knew that
they ought to be forewarned.
No one enjoys hard times. But Jesus made it clear
that they are inevitable. We must enjoy all the good times but bear in mind
that encountering trials is part and parcel of living for the Lord. So Jesus
tells us all these to get us to stay true to our course, and to follow Him whatever
the cost. Are we prepared to do it?
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