John 7:7

“It all seems so easy to you,” Jesus continues. “The world cannot hate you based on your present state, but it does hate me.  It hates me because I do not let the world get way the evil it does.  I tell it like it is!”  John 7:7 EFP 
 
I pondered this text more than usual—because of one word…“cannot.”  Jesus, when addressing his brothers’ flippancy used the word “cannot”, as in “the world cannot hate you.”  He did not say, “The world does not hate you,” or “will not hate you as long as….”  He said “the world cannot hate you.”  Why?  

It’s as if Jesus is telling his brothers it is impossible for the world to hate them in their present condition.  They are lined up more with the world than they are with him.  They are the world!  That’s why they hate him so much.  Jesus does not pull any punches when he sees injustice or hypocrisy.  He speaks up and calls it like he sees it.  He is gentle with the struggling sinner, but he is harsh with those who hide behind false piety and pretense…sort of like his brothers encouraging him to go to Judea to further his prophetic influence.  They are tired of Jesus’ meddling in their affairs. 

Jesus is talking to me too.  Sometimes it’s not comfortable to hear criticism, even if it is constructive.  But the moment I try to tone down the voice of God calling me to grow, I align myself with the world that opposes good.  That world and the evil it does to people cannot be distasteful to me as long as I am in that condition.  I cannot hate the world any more than it hates me.  It’s a sobering thought to consider.  Lord, give me a distaste for what is evil.  Don’t let me cozy up to it.  It will corrupt and corrode my soul.  I want to live.