“But because you do not belong to the world, and I have chosen you out of the world, the world hates you.” // John 15:19

It was 2008, and I was working as a hostess at a restaurant called “California Pizza Kitchen.” At the time, I wore a purity ring as a physical sign of my commitment to a chaste life as a single woman. One evening during a slow shift, a co-worker asked, “What is that ring about?” When I explained to him the meaning, he laughed and responded, “That’s the most stupid thing I’ve ever heard.”

If you have been following Jesus with fervor for any amount of time, you know great ridicule can accompany this choice—some minor, some major. Following Christ today can certainly come along with being mocked, ostracized, or shamed. He told us this would be so. Jesus addresses the disciples very pointedly in today’s Gospel, and most of these men went on to be persecuted to the point of gruesome death for the cause of Christ. How deeply convicting it is to reflect on all who have gone before us who endured far more than being shamed—they endured torture, imprisonment, and death. I wonder how often the disciples recalled His words: “But because . . . I have chosen you out of the world, the world hates you” (John 15:19).

I do wonder if, as they were persecuted, they recalled a look of compassion on Christ’s face when He spoke these words. Only He knew what they would endure for Him once Pentecost had come and gone.

It is all the more moving to sit with the reality that the level of persecution the disciples faced is happening today. There are followers of Jesus being tortured and killed. What sacred opportunities we have in the moments when we are mocked for our faith in these small ways—in our workplaces, classrooms, families, and communities—to remember those persecuted to the point of martyrdom today. We are given opportunities to cry out to God for our brothers and sisters in Christ that they would find deep, lasting hope that eternity spent beholding Him Who is seated on the throne will be more than worth it all.