Unsettled Waters

Gospel: John 16: 29-33

"In the world you will have trouble..."

Jesus makes this statement in various ways time and again throughout the Gospels.  And yet the modern Christian is scandalized and offended by this fact.  They somehow think that some special privilege is accorded Christianity, that the world should respect their religious liberty, that they should be allowed to prosper in a life of comfort.  What this often means is that the modern Christian wants to be the persecutor instead of being the persecuted.

But the authentic following of Jesus necessarily entails a life of suffering from the world.  In serving the powerless, those is power are convicted of using their power to exploit rather than to raise up others.  In serving the poor and the outcast, the wealthy are exposed for their greed and selfishness.  Instead of using their power and wealth to help others, they have instead used it for their own selfish ends.  And so the Christian must suffer for their love and mercy to all as it convicts the world of its cruelty and meanness.

Yet, we are not to fear the trouble that awaits us.  In this same passage Jesus tells us that he has overcome the world, and he has provided us the Holy Spirit to provide us with the same strength to overcome the world in our time of trouble - not conquering through violence, lies, and coercion but rather in not allowing the world to make us like unto itself.