The World Hates Us

The world hates us. That should be the goal of every Catholic: to be hated by the world. That may seem like a controversial statement. Hold onto that thought as you read today’s Gospel, and then I will explain what precisely I mean.

The World Hates Us

Gospel - John 17:11b-19

Lifting up his eyes to heaven, Jesus prayed, saying:

“Holy Father, keep them in your name

that you have given me,

so that they may be one just as we are one.

When I was with them I protected them in your name that you gave me,

and I guarded them, and none of them was lost

except the son of destruction,

in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled.

But now I am coming to you.

I speak this in the world

so that they may share my joy completely.

I gave them your word, and the world hated them,

because they do not belong to the world

any more than I belong to the world.

I do not ask that you take them out of the world

but that you keep them from the Evil One.

They do not belong to the world

any more than I belong to the world.

Consecrate them in the truth.

Your word is truth.

As you sent me into the world,

so I sent them into the world.

And I consecrate myself for them,

so that they also may be consecrated in truth.”

Scriptural Analysis

Jesus prays to the Father that he would continue to protect the disciples. Recall in the Good Shepherd dialogue that Jesus said, "My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. “(John 10:29) With Jesus’s protection none of the disciples was lost except Judas which was allowed so that God’s divine plan could be fulfilled.

The protection of the Father helps preserve them in communion. They are to be one as Jesus and the Father are one. This is the first passage in Chapter 7 where Jesus will pray for unity. The foundation of the unity of the disciples is the unity between the Father and Son. The world will attempt to undermine this unity and sow discord and division. To the degree it is successful, the Church is weakened and its witness of God’s love in Jesus is compromised.

The joy that Christ mentions is the joy that is a fruit of Jesus’s perfect communion with his Father. After Jesus has been resurrected and exalted, the disciples will be incorporated into his communion with his Father. Jesus prays that the disciples will be preserved in this communion and thus share in the joy that Christ possesses.

The disciples received the Father’s word through Jesus. That also means they received the gift of participating in Jesus’ communion with His Father, which in turn means they do not belong to this world. Therefore, the world hates them as they hated Jesus. However, the disciples can’t escape this world, nor does Jesus ask the Father to take them out of this world. Instead, they are to go into the world and be Christ’s witness. The disciples will have trouble in the world. The devil has been Jesus’s enemy in the Gospel, and he will be the enemy of the disciples as well. Jesus repeats his prayer for protection, asking the Father to protect them from the Evil One.

Jesus then asks the Father to consecrate the disciples. This phraseology is typical of liturgy and priesthood. To consecrate something means to set it apart and dedicate it to the service of the Lord. Recall in Exodus, “Now this is what you shall do to them to consecrate them, that they may serve me as priests.” (Exodus 29:1) The association between consecration and mission has already been established by Jesus previously, “Do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world.” (John 10:36)

Jesus specifically asks the Father to consecrate the disciples in the truth. In doing so, he is asking for the disciples to be consecrated in him who is the Father’s word and truth. He wants them to be wrapped in the Father’s love, which will make them holy and enable them for their mission. But for this to happen, Christ must first undergo his passion, completing his Father’s mission for him.

Jesus says that he consecrates himself for them. The preposition “for” in the original Greek is the same one used when describing the Good Shepherd who would lay down his life for the sheep. It is also the same one used in John Chapter 6 when Jesus says that the bread he will give is his flesh “for” the life of the world. Jesus offered his life as a sacrifice of love to the Father on the cross, where he was both victim and priest.

Daily Application

Our goal as Catholics is for the world to hate us. I say that partially tongue-in-cheek, but behind that is a certain truth. Our goal is not to go out into the world and just upset everyone so that they hate us. We are not looking to start a fight or create controversy for the sake of controversy. What we are called to do is to live an authentic life in accordance with the Gospel. We are to embrace and observe all that Christ has commanded us to.

When we do this, we will undoubtedly be hated. We will be hated because in us they will see Christ, and the world hated Christ first. They hated Christ first because Christ is a mirror. In that mirror, we see reflected the love of the Father, but also we see our sins: the areas where we need to grow and improve. That can be painful. So instead, we reject Christ.

Perhaps a way we can measure our progress in leading a truly authentic Catholic life is the degree of conflict we feel with the world. If everything is comfortable, if you walk through your neighborhood Walmart and nothing disturbs you, might I recommend that you consider whether you have allowed Christ and His Church to penetrate every part of your life? If you look out this June at the celebration of morel depravity, and you remain silent, perhaps you are trying too hard to please the world and not our Lord. The life of a Catholic requires us to pick up our cross daily. Part of that cross should be a world that hates us because it hated him first.