John 15:18-21
Chapter 15
18
The Hostile World
If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first.19
This wouldn’t happen if you belonged to the world, because the world loves its own. But you are not of the world, since I have chosen you out of it; because of this, the world hates you.
20
Remember what I told you: the servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they would also persecute you. If they kept my word, they would also keep yours.
21
All this they will do to you because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me.
Commentaries
The Hostile World.
Having been chosen by Jesus (15:16), the disciples no longer belong to the world, which is any reality that rejects Jesus’ mission. That is why the world hates and opposes the disciples. The disciples’ fate cannot be different from that of the Master; if the Master was rejected, persecuted, and hated, the disciples will face the same.