Rose Garden

“If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me before it hated you. If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own. Because you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world—therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘Servants are not greater than their master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you; if they kept my word, they will keep yours also. But they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me hates my Father also. If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not have sin. But now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. It was to fulfill the word that is written in their law, ‘They hated me without a cause.’” (John 15:18-25)

Jesus actually did promise us a rose garden. But we need to remember, roses have thorns, and they need pruning, and watering, and fertilizing. And they go dormant in the winter. And the blossoms wilt and die eventually.

We’d like to believe that Jesus has promised us a life of ease and physical prosperity, because ease and physical prosperity is what most of us want. But Jesus promised thorns along with the rich blessings. Jesus wanted us to be just as happy as he was. He was happy, even though all his life he knew he’d someday die—just as all of us know a similar fate. Jesus experienced a violent and painful death upon a Roman cross. Jesus promised his disciples that the world would treat them no better than it had treated him.

Does this mean that if you’re happy and prosperous that somehow you’ve been disobedient? No more than being miserable and suffering demonstrates a sinful condition. Rather, Jesus simply promises that life happens and that we have no guarantees of anything beyond what Jesus endured. He had a happy life, and he endured the cross because in doing so, he saved the world. And his death was only temporary, anyhow, just like our own suffering and death. It really is all good. We can see that if we can gain the same perspective on life that Jesus had.

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About R.P. Nettelhorst

I'm married with three daughters. I live in southern California and I'm the interim pastor at Quartz Hill Community Church. I have written several books. I spent a couple of summers while I was in college working on a kibbutz in Israel. In 2004, I was a volunteer with the Ansari X-Prize at the winning launches of SpaceShipOne. Member of Society of Biblical Literature, American Academy of Religion, and The Authors Guild
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