Everyone will hate you because of Me

“Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death.  Everyone will hate you because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved." Mark 13:12-13

Jesus is describing the end times, and today I am finding these two verses very uncomfortble.  Two questions come to mind:

1. Is my being hated an evidence that I am a true follower of Jesus?  So if I am facing someone's anger, can I automatically assume it is just because I am speaking the truth from the Holy Spirit?

2. If I am not provoking others' hatred because of Christ, does this mean I am not living my faith as vibrantly as I might?

Question 1:
-I notice that my anger and hatred is sometimes sparked when someone inadvertently convicts me of an inner flaw or failing.  A good example: often in college, I would respond to people who needed assistance with a point in the right direction, and a basic "good luck!" My best friend, on the other hand, tended to respond to the same situations with more generosity, helping people in need to feel truly comfortable and listening to them longer than I would. By watching her example, I was convicted of an inner stinginess, which at first made me feel angry with her.  As I allowed the conviction to take root in my actions, however, those initial feelings of anger faded, and I resolved to become more generous.  My friend in this case was an example of someone who was "being hated" because of her witness to Christ.  She was a constant reminder to me of a better way, which was sometimes painful to me because I had not yet chosen that way myself. 

-On the other hand, sometimes our own self-righteousness, pride and poor timing can provoke the world's anger, too.  This is different, and we should not be hasty in concluding that it is our expert modeling of Christ that is responsible for others' wrath.  Sometimes we are quick to offer a judgment before we truly know the person or circumstances we are judging  This is the whole "take the wooden beam out of your own eye before you try to remove the splinter from your brother's eye" argument. 

It takes good self-knowledge to distinguish between the two kinds of hatred we might encounter in living our faith.

Quesion 2:

-Often I live in fear of being hated for my faith in Jesus.  Sometimes I show this fear by remaining silent about faith convictions so as not to be construed as self-righteous, Pharisaical, judgmental or hateful.  This is really tough.  When I know I have the choir to back me up, I preach to it.  Alone, I often lack the courage. 
-Pontius Pilate also shared this struggle.  He didn't believe it was right to put Jesus to death, but he also didn't want to stand alone in that conviction against an angry mob. 

-On the other hand, I also try to be tactful about how to make my beliefs known.  I don't believe that sparking heated debates on facebook is effective, as it breeds contentiousness.  I believe that relationship is the best way to share the Christian faith, not first by arguments with strangers.  I also think that an effective witnessing of the Gospel in action is more eloquent than using words, and harder to do. 
 -I don't remember any great quotes by St. Maximillian Kolbe, but I do know that what he lived in the concentration camps did much to bring the Gospel to the world.