part 6 of “The Last Night With Jesus”
Over the last week, I have been looking at this next part of the conversation between Jesus and His disciples. I have been looking and praying as to what Jesus might be saying to us through His words. The words of the Bible are God-breathed and are there to help us, guide us, correct us, and train us (2 Timothy 3:16). The Bible is also alive and active (Hebrews 4:12). This means that the words of the Bible are for us just as much as they were for the people back then who read them or as in the case of the disciples heard them straight from Jesus.
So as I looked at the words of Jesus here in this next section of John 15, I wanted to see what Jesus was saying to us in this moment with His disciples. Jesus starts off this part of the conversation with a shift and it’s a big shift as He just was talking about love. Here is what Jesus said:
“If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first.” - John 15:18 NLT
Jesus spends this next part of the conversation talking about how the world has hated Him and the hatred toward Him came without cause (John 15:25). Jesus tells them that because they have been with Him and want to continue His works the world will also hate them. This has to be some pretty tough words for the disciples to digest. I mean reading these words in the Bible myself is hard for me because Jesus is talking about something opposite of His nature.
But as I looked at these verses and thought about them and what Jesus could be saying to us. I landed in verse 19 with what I believe Jesus could be saying to us.
“The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you.” - John 15:19 NLT
We were chosen to be different from the world. This is why Jesus spent time telling us to love each other. Jesus, in the last part conversation, talked a lot about love. In fac, He made it a new commandment (John 13:34). Jesus wants us to love each other, love God, and love others (Matthew 22:37-40). This is how we stand out in the world. This is how people know that we follow Jesus. The way we love shows Jesus to the world (John 13:35). But we can’t miss the fact that because we chose to love people in the way that Jesus did the world may hate us for it. We were chosen by Jesus to be different. The world doesn’t always love and that’s how Jesus is shown to the world. Even to the end of His life, Jesus showed love to everyone - the entire world (John 3:16).
Jesus once again mentions the coming of the Holy Spirit to them. This was a reminder to them that the Holy Spirit would help them and guide them [1].
As we go briefly into chapter 16, we see Jesus say to His disciples that He is telling them all of this because He wants them to be ready for what is to come. At this point, Jesus had taken most, if not all, of the opposition. If some of it should have been directed toward the disciples Jesus was there to keep them on the path and prevent them from stumbling [2][3]. But now that Jesus was going to be leaving them, He wanted them to know so they wouldn’t abandon their faith (John 16:1) and not continue His work and ministry.
Now I don’t make light of what Jesus is saying here to His disciples. But there is one thing that I would like to say about this part of the conversation. This was going to be the first time the disciples had ever experienced this kind of opposition and hate toward them. Jesus indicates that it would get really hard for them (John 16:2). While what Jesus says to His disciples is true for us today as followers of Jesus are constantly facing opposition - more so in other countries.
However, I still believe Jesus wants us to see something else. Jesus doesn’t want us to be a part of the world He chose us from (John 15:19). Paul indicates this idea in his letter to the Roman church when he encourages them not to copy the behaviors of the world Jesus wants us to be different. Jesus wants us to be transformed into a new person [4]. I believe this is why Jesus talks so much about love in His last words. He wants us to love because the world doesn’t do that very well and showing love is the best way to show Him (John 13:35).
I know I have said that before, even earlier in this post. But I believe it is a good thing to repeat. Jesus repeated it three times in this conversation. But Jesus spent His whole ministry showing love to others. The actions of Jesus showed more love than if He would have just talked about it. He spent years showing love, then in this last night showed love to His disciples, and spoke about the importance of love with them.
This is what I believe Jesus wants us to get from this part of the conversation. He wants us to do something different than the world does. He wants us to show love.
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[1] John 14:15-26.
[2] The Gospel of John: Believe and Live by Elmer Towns
[3] John 16:1-4
[4] Romans 12:2, NLT
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