'If the world hate you, ye know that it hated Me before it hated you.
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. 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.'--JOHN xv. 18-20.
These words strike a discord in the midst of the sweet music to which
we have been listening. The key-note of all that has preceded has been
love--the love of Christ's friends to one another, and of all to Him,
as an answer to His love to all. That love, which is one, whether it
rise to Him or is diffused on the level of earth, is the result of that
unity of life between the Vine and the branches, of which our Lord has
been speaking such great and wonderful things. But that unity of life
between Christians and Christ has another consequence than the spread
of love. Just because it binds them to Him in a sacred community, it
separates them from those who do not share in His life, and hence the
'hate' of our context is the shadow of 'love'; and there result two
communities--to use the much-abused words that designate them--the
Church and 'the World'; and the antagonism between these is deep,
fundamental, and perpetual.
Unquestionably, our Lord is here speaking with special reference to the
Apostles, who, in a very tragic sense, were 'sent forth as sheep in the
midst of wolves.' If we may trust tradition, every one of that little
company, Speaker as well as hearers, died a martyr's death, with the
exception of John himself, who was preserved from it by a miracle. But,
be that as it may, our Lord is here laying down a universal statement
of the permanent condition of things; and there is no more reason for
restricting the force of these words to the original hearers of them
than there is for restricting the force of any of the rest of this
wonderful discourse. 'The world' will be in antagonism to the Church
until the world ceases to be a world, because it obeys the King; and
then, and not till then, will it cease to be hostile to His subjects.