Saturday of the 5 week of Easter ‘b’

Jn 15:18-21

For the last several days in the Gospel readings we keep hearing about love. Jesus keeps repeating similar statements over and over again -- love, love God, love one another, remain in my love, and as the Father loves me, so I love you. But today in the Gospel reading we hear about the opposite of love, and the opposite of love is to hate. We Christians are asked to love, not only asked but required to love. A Christian can’t hate; but because of our being Christians, we may be hated by this world and even by others. Hate ‘hates’ love. Jesus is Love, and He reminds us today: “If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first.” We are called to love, but we shouldn’t expect to be loved back. At times we may be hated.