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I believe that if you love for yourself, and from yourself, you will become a hater. It is inevitable.
The Jesus of history, the Jesus of the biblical narrative, entered the world at the exact time and place to accomplish the exact purposes for which he lived. He came not just into a world dominated by political empire, but one bent on constructing religious empire as well – a religious setting filled with angst and hatred and one with a rich story of persecution at the hands of others; specifically Egypt, Assyria, Babylon – and now Rome. Many of his day believed that though they physically returned from exile hundreds of years earlier, there remained a spiritual exile as long as they lived under the oppressive reach of the Romans. And they would remain in that exile until a Messiah arrived to lead them to victory. It is their preconception of what that victory would look like, that singular-egoic-retaliatory view, which would prove to be their greatest demise.
We can talk all we want about the Jesus of the Sunday school flannel board, but the Jesus of history is of a different ilk. The Jesus of history came to rebuke a religious world that was out of hand. The Jesus of history came to proclaim a kingdom not of ‘their’ world. He knew that the world around him (political and religious) was about to implode, crashing down upon the heads of the citizens of Jerusalem. He understood that a message of love and longsuffering would not endear him to the masses; no, they wanted retribution. They wanted vengeance. And he also knew that the least tolerable of his world, those most angered by his message, would be the religious – those claiming to constitute the ‘true believers’ aligned with the ‘one true God.’ It was their way or the highway. And he was right.
In one of his messages he told his followers “If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me before it hated you” (John 15:18). Anybody who has attended church for any length of time has probably heard those words repeated in sermons and Sunday school classes. Interestingly, the “world” in question usually ends up being portrayed as the secular or non-believing world. As the story is told, believers are so righteous they constitute some sort of holiness mirror in which the unbelieving world sees itself, is convicted of its sinful ways and therein retaliates with hatred. In some sectors of religion, being hated by the outside world is even something to be proud of.
If we read the text through to the end (or at least v. 25), however, we see a twist that we perhaps did not see coming. Jesus says that the reason why the ‘world’ would hate him is because “it was written in their law.” The world is, you see, a ‘religious’ world, not a secular one. The haters were religious.
Why is that?
This is where I’m drawn to look at the acting out of the false self – the ‘thing’ that arises within once ego is challenged. I think this is because ego attaches to form in order to make itself right, more (fill in the blank: holy, righteous, smart, insightful, saved, accepted, ad-infinitum). Once people attach to their belief system, any challenge of such gives birth to a strong defense mechanism – one that ultimately ends up going on the offense.
Not realizing that they are not their beliefs, they fight as if they are. Because they equate being right with being saved, they fight till the death. Not seeing their true self as Love, they tap the reservoir of their own ability to love (a ‘doing’ thing vs. a ‘being’ thing) only to discover that the well has run dry. And so they lash out with words or logic, the violence of questions or even turning the tools of hammer and nail into weapons.
When we see love as something that comes from within the self, it is surely the false self that is being drawn upon, something shallow and in limited supply. And when challenged, that false self is fighting for its life, for its survival, for its affirmation. And it will do so even to the point of justifying taking the life of another – even if it means putting a man on a cross.
The Jesus who I see kneeling in Gethsemane’s garden is not the Jesus who dies for a belief system. He is the Jesus who dies for Love. And Love, as I see it, is the divinity within us all – an inclusive idea that much of the religious world will attack with all its might. Ultimately, finding Love is finding the true self. It is the “welcome home” affirmation for which the world seeks.
Love is not dependent upon our belief. It is beyond anything we can fully do. It is inclusive of everyone and resides within all.
Love IS. And if a religious world finds offense within that message don’t be surprised – it won’t be the first time – and it certainly won’t be the last. This is how and why Jesus could die at their hands. He saw their true essence. He saw Love.
Today, when you interact with others, I hope you see nothing less than that as well. And if you do, you, too, will have lived and died for all the right reasons.
13 comments to “When the world Hates”
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Let’s follow this logically. Jesus died for Love. Love is the divine in every person. So Jesus died for the lovely divinity that is in every human heart, it would follow.
But that doesn’t square with Scripture, which teaches that Jesus died for the unlovely, for those who hated and scorned and mocked Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us by sending his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
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Great post Tim! When we see the difference between LOVE and a belief system, we have discovered a treasure worth more than gold.
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Call me overly-simplistic, but I’ve come to believe that everything we do, everything we think, everything we believe, all boils down to one of two roots: Love or Fear.
I see that God IS Love … God IS Power … there is only One power, and that is Love. Love is THE only power in the universe. In existence.
However, we humans have never really trusted in Love … we see it as weak, as wussy, as “mere sentimentality”. And so we gravitate to the faux-power of the ego: Fear. Fear gets things done, we reason … it motivates people to behave better, we think. We even use fear to get folks to come into “relationship” with God.
But what relationship is built on fear..? If myhusband had wooed me with, “I love you, I must have you … I want you to choose me in return. You have a month in which to choose me or reject me, but if you do not choose me, I shall stalk you down, torture you endlessly, and kill you. So, please choose me, because I love you.”
What manner of love is that?!? And, though I may well “choose” him out of fear, out of compliance, would I ever trust him, feel close to him, abandon myself to intimacy with him? Could I ever possibly love him?
And yet — we imagine that God draws us to Himself that way…?
We love because God first loved us, when we were yet “sinners” (& I see the only sin as that of believing that we’re separated from God) … and we were only ever enemies of God *in our own minds*.
This is gooooooood and illusion-shattering stuff, Tim..!
Indeed: It’s not the world of planet-earth, the world of the “unbelievers” that Jesus was speaking of … it was the world of religious thought, the world of institutionalized-ego, the world that would kill those who threaten its hierarchy, believing that it’s doing God a favor …
Whether we are slaughtering the Canaanites, or flying our planes into sky-scrapers, we are only following the darkness of our own egoic-thinking, and falsely attributing such dualistic thinking onto the God who is One, who is Love, who is All in All.
Keep shining the Light into the dark spaces, Tim … keep exposing the “monsters in the closet” as the “dust bunnies in our minds” that they always were…!
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“Call me overly-simplistic, but I’ve come to believe that everything we do, everything we think, everything we believe, all boils down to one of two roots: Love or Fear.”
Dena- not over simplistic at all. You are on to something here. THE key, I believe.
Here comes my turn to say, “Call me overly-simplistic but… .” I happen to subscribe to some pretty whackadoo stuff and part of this is that fear isn’t real (not that I can practice this most times or in most circumstances).
Ever heard the quote: “Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists. Herein lies the peace of God”? It’s from A Course In Miracles. It’s THE key to ACIM (which you probably already know). It’s non-dualism (or “Not two”) essentially. You also probably know the Upanishads and the Bible mirror the presence of “Not two.” (OK, we’ll work on the Bible and THAT part at a later time, but Jesus taught “One”.)
There is only Love, and all we are called to be is the One who (through our higher Self) removes the “fear” or ego-barriers in the way of Love, through forgiveness, to realize the miracle of One.
Here’s some more whackadoo (hold on!)… I believe there is no where, no one, no thing that isn’t “God”. So, at the same time we’re “God” slaughtering the Canaanites, flying planes into sky-scrapers we are also “God” as Canaanites and as beings inside sky-scrapers. “Perfect love casts out fear.” (Again, not that I can practice this even .0001%.) BUT, I do believe and therefore I have the ability to practice this when I choose, and herein is my hope- that I can remember who I am through the words of the Buddha, Krishna, Moses, Jesus, Mohammed, Black Elk, Gandhi, and Dena Brehm.
In this light, in our Oneness… how can we hate?
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Just a quick note to say that I’m so happy to be affiliated with you all. If the rest of the world wants to believe things are getting worse and spiritually into the Point of No Return, I suppose that’s what they need to do. But reading things like Tim’s original post and the comments thereafter, I can’t help but claim a glimmer of hope for the future. As Dena said, let’s continue to shine the light in the darkness. Blessings, all.
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If it is not LOVE, then it is religion,- no matter what ‘community’ or ‘belief system’ one may be affiliated with.
Perfect LOVE does cast out fear. I am here & that is proof. -
Tim,
I thoroughly enjoyed this blog. I causes me to study the “Mechanic’s of Hate.” As you well know, the word “hate” in Greek means “to love less.” It implies to “put levels, or seperate that Love into different comparments.” We really do fear Redemption, most of society believes more in hate than they do the power of Love. It is amazing how it one split second, the false self and the Authentic self emerge. I find in my experience I am seeing the “undoing” of some much I thought was my authentic Self. Love is shedding the layers off.
Reframing Jesus will lead us to Reframing our mind-sets of how we see our world. -
The Ego is based on a “image.” To defend that “image” is when we reframe our divine identity
to a level of defense system mechanics. -
Tertius, Jesus saw past our ‘sinful’ selves to the divinity we hold within as children of the Creator and considered us worth dying for. It’s quite simple!
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You wrote, “When I was deep into the institutional setting there were times I was both abused and abuser — it took A LOT to finally awaken to Love. And it probably took even longer to allow that Love to reach into the deepest part of who I am” – me too.
Tim, I love what you have written here. You hit it right on the head. I am wondering really what it would take for the religous community to realize that in order to have true peace in the world they are going to have to be the ones to lay down their swords. This is percisely the reason so much of the religous right doesn’t like what Obama is trying to do. With them reaching out and shaking the hand of what they see as the enemy is a sign of weakness and not of strength.