The world hates Jesus Christ because His message and life confront people with their own sin and need for a savior.
After this, Jesus traveled around Galilee. He wanted to stay out of Judea, where the Jewish leaders were plotting his death. But soon it was time for the Jewish Festival of Shelters, and Jesus’ brothers said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea, where your followers can see your miracles! You can’t become famous if you hide like this! If you can do such wonderful things, show yourself to the world!” For even his brothers didn’t believe in him.
Jesus replied, “Now is not the right time for me to go, but you can go anytime. The world can’t hate you, but it does hate me because I accuse it of doing evil. (John 7:1-7)
For followers of Christ, dedicated to loving and serving Him, it can be difficult to understand why the world hates Jesus Christ. For those who were immersed in the Bible and its teachings from a young age, it may be almost impossible to imagine until we see it for ourselves.
Christ warns His followers that they will be hated for His sake (John 15:18-19). Today’s passage explains why the world hates Jesus Christ Himself. Christ says it is because He accuses it “of doing evil”.
And yet, we have passages that also tell us that Christ came into the world to save the world, not judge it (John 3:17). So, in what way does Christ accuse the world of doing evil?
I would like to explore 3 ways in which Christ accuses the world of doing evil. This will help us to better understand why the world hates Jesus Christ.
The World Hates Jesus for His Conviction
The first reason why the world hates Jesus Christ is because He convicts the world of sin.
Christ highlights the need for repentance. We are told that this was the core of His message in preaching to the people, and the urgency of the matter since the “Kingdom of Heaven” was now upon them (Matthew 4:17). So not only does Christ’s preaching highlight the need for repentance, but His very presence does as well.
When Christ preaches that we need to repent, the question that enters the natural man’s mind is, “repent from what”? And of course, Christ calls us to repent of sin. The Bible reminds us that all have sinned; unrighteous and unable to achieve righteousness on our own (Romans 3:23).
And just because Christ’s time on this earth has temporarily ended, there is not escape from conviction of sin, as it is now one of the ministries of the Holy Spirit (John 16:8).
Therefore, the only way to escape the conviction of sin is to ignore it or pretend that sin doesn’t exist. In a world full of people who demand to be self-justified, the natural response to being told we are sinful and evil is to resist and be angry at the messenger. Some even try to put God on the hook for evil!
The correct response – the one that will bring us peace – is to humble ourselves and admit that we are sinners, and repent. Yet not only are there those who do not choose this path, they willfully chose to remain in their sin. Which brings us to the second reason.
The World Hates Jesus for Exposing its Unrighteousness
The second reason why the world hates Jesus Christ is because He exposes the selfish, evil motives in humankind. Jesus calls us out for loving evil over loving good. The problem with this is, to hear these words of Christ leaves us with no excuses.
Now that Christ has come to earth, dwelt and communed with us, we are now directly confronted with a choice – to choose His way or our way. Christ Himself attributes the reason that many don’t choose Him is because they “loved the darkness more” (John 3:18-21).
The truth is, we are so unrighteous that on our own, we want what the world offers us over what Almighty God calls us to. We want, period. We want to pursue anything this world offers us that makes us feel good or offers to hold the answer to our happiness.
The problem is, this world and everything in it only brings temporary satisfaction (1 John 2:15-17). Only Christ can fill the God-shaped hole in our hearts, no matter how hard we try.
The only true happiness that can be found is when we repent of our sins and give our lives over to Jesus Christ. To stay connected to Him and follow His ways. If we do this, we will know a joy that we can never hope to generate by pursuing our own pleasures (Romans 14:17).
Unfortunately, the world’s actions show that this is not our natural inclination. We would rather choose our own path to self-fulfillment, rather than choose the only true way to salvation. And that leads us to the exclusivity of Christ.
The World Hates Jesus for Making it Choose
The third reason why the world hates Jesus Christ is because of the exclusivity of Christ’s message and being. Jesus Christ does not merely offer one path to redemption and salvation. He makes it abundantly clear that He is the way, the truth and the life, and that He is the only path available to us for salvation.
This is extremely offensive to the world; that we are not allowed to determine our own path for salvation. We want to be the captains of our soul. We want to be able to decide for ourselves how we will be redeemed.
It may sound enlightened for someone to say that they believe there are many paths to Heaven. Borrowing the “best” from multiple religions may make someone feel safe. But an honest reading of Christ’s words, teachings, and what He says about Himself shows us that Christ will not allow that in His case.
We either choose to follow Christ, or reject Him, because He has made this bold claim for Himself. There is no middle ground or compromise to be had. It’s up to us to take this claim and decide how we will respond.
There are plenty of reasons why the world hates Jesus Christ. While believers live in the world, we will be confronted by the world’s evil. Christ tells His followers that we will have “many trials and sorrows” but to rejoice because He has “overcome the world” (John 16:33). We have a hope that the world cannot comprehend on its own. All the more reason for us to share that hope with the world.
More Bible verses about why the world hates Jesus Christ:
Isaiah 53:3; Matthew 10:33; Luke 10:16; John 15:18; 1 Corinthians 1:26-29; James 4:4; 1 Peter 2:4
