Our Lord consoles them by using himself as an
example of one who has suffered the persecution of oppressors, saying, If the
world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. Note that just
as the source of all benefits is love, so the source of all persecutions is
hatred. And so our Lord foretells that they will be hated: "You will be
hated by all nations" (Mt 24:9); "Blessed are you when men hate
you" (Lk 6:22).
He says, If the world hates you, that is, it will
come to pass that the world will hate you, and show its hatred by persecuting
you, know that it has hated me before it hated you: "The world cannot hate
you, but it hates me" (7:7). This thought is a great consolation for the
just so that they can courageously endure persecutions: "Consider him who
endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow
weary or fainthearted" (Heb 12:3); "Christ also suffered for you, leaving
you an example, that you should follow in his steps" (1 Pet 2:21).
According to Augustine, the members should not consider themselves greater than
the Head, nor refuse to be part of his body by being unwilling to endure with
their Head the hatred of the world
The world can have two meanings. First a good
meaning, for those who lead a good life in the world: "God was in Christ
reconciling the world to himself" (2 Cor 5:19). Secondly, it can have an
evil sense, meaning those who love the world: "The whole world is in the
power of the evil one" (1 Jn 5:19). And so the whole world hates the whole
world, because those who love the world, and they are spread throughout the
whole world, hate the whole world, that is, the Church of the good, which has
been established throughout the whole world.
Now he mentions a second point for their
consolation, and this is based on the reason for their being hated. When a
person endures another's hatred because of his own sins, there is reason for
regret and sorrow; but when he is hated because of his virtue he should
rejoice. First, our Lord gives the reason why some are loved by the world;
secondly, why the apostles are hated by the world (v 19).
The reason why some are loved by the world is that
they are like the world; If you were of the world, the world would love its
own. Like loves like: "Every creature loves its like" (Sir 13:15).
And thus the world, that is, those who love the world, love those who love the
world. Accordingly, our Lord says, If you were of the world, that is, followers
of the world, the world would love its own, because you would be its own and
like to it: "The world cannot hate you, but it hates me" (7:7).
"They are of the world, therefore what they say is of the world, and the
world listens to them" (I Jn 4:5).
One might object that our Lord meant by the world
the authorities of the world, who would persecute the apostles. Yet these very
same authorities persecute other worldly people, like murderers and thieves.
Therefore, the world does not love its own any more than it loves the apostles.
I reply that it is possible to find something
purely good, but not something purely evil, since the subject of evil is
something good. Consequently, the evil of guilt is located in some good of
nature. Therefore, no person can be a sinner and evil without having some good.
So it is because of the evil of these authorities, the evil of their unbelief,
that they belong to the world and hate the apostles and those who are not of
the world. But because of the good they possess they are not of the world and
hate those who are of the world, as thieves and robbers, and such. Still, there
were some who were living well in the world yet loved the apostles and approved
of their actions.
Now he gives the reason why the world hates the
apostles, which is because they are unlike the world. He says, but because you
are not of the world, because your spirit has been lifted above it ‑ although you are of the
world by your origin: "You are from below, I am from above" (8:23) ‑ lifted above it not by
yourselves but by my grace, because I chose you out of the world, therefore,
because you are not of the world, the world hates you, that is, those who love
the world and who are unlike you, hate you: "An unjust man is an
abomination to the righteous, but he whose way is straight is an abomination to
the wicked" (Prv 29:27); and in the same chapter "Bloodthirsty men
hate one who is blameless" (v 10).
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