Word to the Wise
Saturday, May 20, 2017 - 5th Week of Easter - Sat
[Acts 16:1-10 and John 15:18-21]"If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own; but because you do not belong to the world, and I have chosen you out of the world, the world hates you." [John]
Ask a group of friends each to define the term, "world," and I suspect there will be a great variety of definitions. My old Merriam-Webster dictionary has no less than nine definitions of "world." No doubt the term, "virtual world," had not been invented when I was in college! When I entered religious life as a novice, if a person left the program, we would say that he "returned to the world." So, going back to the last decade of the first century A.D. (or C.E.) we find the evangelist using "the world" in a particular way in remembering Jesus' preaching. It characterizes those who were opposed to Jesus and then to the disciples when they began to preach about him. This takes on a personal aspect in the Gospel According to John because the opposition was coming from other Jews, who were expelling from the synagogues and persecuting anyone who believed in Jesus. The bitter feelings found their way into the composition of the gospel, and gives it a confrontational tone.
As people of faith, we encounter various "worlds" that make claims that are not in keeping with what we believe. The "political" world of power and policy often results in laws and rules that violate the teaching of the Church. The "business" world urges us to lifestyles and economic choices that are clearly opposed to Jesus' teaching. The "scientific" world makes claims that we find in tension with our faith whenever that world ventures into ours. Much of this is often gathered under the title of "secularism."
Jesus assures the disciples during the "Farewell discourse" that he will be with them when they encounter opposition and persecution from the "world." They must live "in the world" but not be "of the world." If we undertake the interesting task of evaluating our place in the various "worlds" around us, it can be challenging to ask which ones we are "in" and which ones we are "of." AMEN
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