八福
恐外症
經文
約翰福音十五12-27
12你們要彼此相愛，像我愛你們一樣；這就是我的命令。
13人為朋友捨命，人的愛心沒有比這個大的。
14你們若遵行我所吩咐的，就是我的朋友了。
15以後我不再稱你們為僕人，因僕人不知道主人所作的事。我乃稱你們為朋友；因我從我父所聽見的，已經都告訴你們了。
16不是你們揀選了我，是我揀選了你們，並且分派你們去結果子，叫你們的果子常存，使你們奉我的名，無論向父求甚麼，他就賜給你們。
17我這樣吩咐你們，是要叫你們彼此相愛。
18世人若恨你們，你們知道（或作：該知道），恨你們以先已經恨我了。
19你們若屬世界，世界必愛屬自己的；只因你們不屬世界，乃是我從世界中揀選了你們，所以世界就恨你們。
20你們要記念我從前對你們所說的話：僕人不能大於主人。他們若逼迫了我，也要逼迫你們；若遵守了我的話，也要遵守你們的話。
21但他們因我的名要向你們行這一切的事，因為他們不認識那差我來的。
22我若沒有來教訓他們，他們就沒有罪；但如今他們的罪無可推諉了。
23恨我的，也恨我的父。
24我若沒有在他們中間行過別人未曾行的事，他們就沒有罪；但如今連我與我的父，他們也看見也恨惡了。
25這要應驗他們律法上所寫的話，說：他們無故的恨我。
26但我要從父那裡差保惠師來，就是從父出來真理的聖靈；他來了，就要為我作見證。
27你們也要作見證，因為你們從起頭就與我同在。
信息分享
今天我們要繼續默想第八福，也是八福中最後一福：「為義受逼迫的人有福了！因為天國是他們的」（太五10）。關於受苦和逼迫，有一個問題往往令人感到疑惑：為甚麼基督徒做好事時總要受到逼迫，而非基督徒做同樣的好事時卻受人稱讚？
有一位解經家指出，原因是當非基督徒做好事時，其他非基督徒覺得很容易接受他們，說：「這些人不過是與我做得最好的時候一樣。」他們總會有這麼的想法：「要是有機會，我很可能也同樣做得到這樣的事情。」這樣，他們給予別人的稱讚其實是稱讚自己的一種方式。
可是，當一個基督徒做了好事時，是流露著另一個世界的氣質，因此非基督徒不只是看到他們的好行為，也看到行為背後那不同的動機。他們感覺到這個人的不同，但是他們不能明白或解釋那種不同，於是以恐懼來作為回應，而那恐懼也就變成了一種敵意。心理學家稱這種恐懼為恐外症，這些人對不認識或不明白的人感到恐懼。這就是為甚麼文士和法利賽人那麼憎恨我們的主，不是因為祂良善，而是因為祂不同。這也就是耶穌基督對世界常常產生的影響。對基督徒來說，你越是能夠反映基督的精神，也越會遭遇類似的經歷。
「基督徒行善的原因是不同的」
進深研究
腓一1-14；西四3；提後一7-8
1.保羅怎樣看逼迫？
2.他給提摩太的命令是甚麼？
祈禱
天父，我知道如果我只是嘗試做好事，世界會鼓掌；但如果我嘗試活像基督，世界便會憎恨我。然而我渴望學像基督。親愛的天父，求您幫助我，如果沒有您的恩典，我甚麼都做不到。奉主耶穌的名祈求，阿們。
The Beatitudes
"Xenophobia"
Bible reading:
John 15:12-27
12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.
13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends.
14 You are my friends if you do what I command.
15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.
16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.
17 This is my command: Love each other.
18 "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.
19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.
20 Remember what I told you: 'A servant is not greater than his master.'[a] If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also.
21 They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me.
22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin.
23 Whoever hates me hates my Father as well.
24 If I had not done among them the works no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. As it is, they have seen, and yet they have hated both me and my Father.
25 But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: 'They hated me without reason.'[b]
26 "When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me.
27 And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.
Message
We continue meditating on the eighth and final Beatitude. One of the questions that has often puzzled people concerning this matter of suffering and persecution is this: Why is it that Christians, when they do good, are often persecuted, while non-Christians who do the same kind of good are adored?
One commentator suggests the reason for this is that when non- Christians do good, other non-Christians find it easy to identify with them and say to themselves: "These people are just like me when I am at my best." The thinking that goes on below the threshold of a non-Christian's mind when he sees other non-Christians doing good is along the line of: "I am probably capable of the same thing myself if the opportunity came my way." The admiration that is then given is a way of paying a compliment to oneself.
The Christian who does good has about him or her the atmosphere of another world, and because of this, the non-Christian observes, not just their act of good, but the different motivation that underlies the act. They sense that there is something different about this person, and because they cannot understand or explain the difference, they react with fear and the fear then turns to hostility. Psychologists have a name for this fear - xenophobia. It means fear of someone we do not know or understand. This is why the scribes and Pharisees hated our Lord so much. It wasn't because He was good; it was because He was different. This is the effect Jesus Christ always has upon the world. And to the extent that you reflect His spirit, to that extent you will experience the same reaction.
"A Christian's reason for doing good is different"
Prayer
O Father, I see that if I just try to do good, the world will applaud me, but if I try to become Christlike, it will hate me. Nevertheless I long to be Christlike. Help me, dear Father, for apart from Your grace, I know it is not possible. Amen.
Further study
Philippians 1:1-14
Colossians 4:3
2 Timothy 1:7-8
1. How did Paul view persecution?
2. What was his charge to Timothy?
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