April has arrived!  The next time we meet will be Palm Sunday.  April 17th will be Resurrection Celebration Day 2022.  Passover and Springtime make excellent partners.  In Mississippi, the Earth wakes up from the cold days of winter.  Every tree begins to shift from brown and gray to green buds.  Flowers wake up and begin to bloom.  With a nudge from the windy days of March, we watch that thick, yellow pollen as it swirls around and finally blankets every surface.  “Ahhhhh-choooo” is the word of the day as we get online to buy stock in Kleenex tissues.  Meanwhile, the newness of it all encourages a big dose of hope and joy. 

The climate and seasonal changes in Israel match ours here in Mississippi in many ways.  A Passover Festival full moon would have been rising over Gethsemane as Jesus continued His conversation of comfort and consolation with His disciples as recorded in John 13-17.  Judas was busy gathering the Jewish religious leaders who were rejoicing as they adjusted their robes and prayer shawls.  Roman soldiers picked up weapons and gathered lanterns and torches, heading toward the Mount of Olives.  The Thursday evening arrest of Jesus was imminent.  The shadow of the cross was less than 12 hours away.

Jesus had so many “famous last words” to say to His disciples in these chapters.  There is no way in this context of weekly Bible study to cover all of them.  As a Bible teacher, it always feels like we are water skiing on top of a bottomless ocean of rich truth recorded in scripture, barely scraping the surface.  In today’s lesson, Jesus focused on a topic that no one wanted to discuss.  He was preparing them for personal persecution.  He knew it was coming.  He wanted them to be ready. 

John used the word “love” over 40 times in his gospel account.  In this chapter alone, John recorded Jesus using the word “hate” almost 10 times.  The promise of the Holy Spirit proved that they would never face anything alone or be abandoned.  The reality was that they would be treated very badly, just as they had seen Jesus be rejected, refused, ridiculed and scorned.  Every disciple would be persecuted.  Jesus guaranteed this.  Amazingly, John would be the last man standing on the Isle of Patmos, serving faithfully into his 90’s.

They could look forward to being hated, being treated as outcasts from the synagogue and to death.  Jesus did not sugar-coat these words.  He said in John 16:4 that the “hour” of their persecutors would certainly come and when it does arrive, they should not be surprised.  They should expect to be treated just as He had been treated.  Twenty-four hours later at sunset on Friday, they would fully realize that Jesus had spoken truth.  By then, the tomb would hold the dead body of this humble Foot Washer. 

The Greek word for persecute is “dioko” which means to seek out in order to drive away, to pursue in order to malign, to show hostility toward, to put to flight, to destroy.  Jesus made sure they comprehended the progression:  resentment, open opposition, hatred, actions leading to death.  They would soon be facing the people who would be standing at the foot of the cross in a few hours…happy to see Jesus hanging there between two thieves. 

They would be lined up directly against the world.  This Greek word for world (“kosmon”) can mean the created order or humanity in general.  Jesus wanted them to see the “world” in the context of full blown opposition to anyone and anything of God.  The world would be their enemy AND their mission field!!!

These people will believe that they are doing God a favor by destroying believers.  At this very moment in time, Saul of Tarsus was doing all that he could to eradicate people of “The Way” who were followers of Jesus.  We heard these very words as the Twin Towers collapsed in 2001 and our enemies rejoiced.  Jesus had come to show the world a better way.  They did all they could to shut Him down.