Continually hated: Luke 21:16-19

Jesus warns his disciples of how they will be treated for his namesake, saying, “But you will be betrayed even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death, and you will be hated by all because of My name. Yet not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your lives.” (Luke 21:16-19) What is interesting in this verse is that, in the Greek, the word translated here as “hated” is a present passive participle, which implies a continuous action being done to the subject. Jesus’ disciples would not just be hated, but they will be continually and habitually hated. Their condition in the world would become as those whom the world continually hates.

As disciples, we should not expect the world, and its corrupt system, to love us. Christianity should never become so domesticated that there no longer remains any difference between the church and the world. Rather, our goal should be to live counter-cultural lives that display a true alternative to this present world system. Such living may engender the disdain of the world, but it will win for us the approval of God as it offers hope to those trapped in this world and this “present evil age.” (Gal. 1:4)