Why I Hated Christ

I've written about why I love Christ (here, here, here, and here). But the truth is, I used to hate Him.

I would never have admitted that, of course. I thought I loved God, was open to the truth, and I probably would have claimed that I was even seeking “a closer walk with God.”

But I was not a good person, looking for the Savior. I was a bad person, running from the Savior. Now I know the truth: deep down, I hated Christ. What’s even more dismaying, all people do. The only reason anyone loves the Savior now is that God’s grace has overcome our hard, dead, selfish hearts and transformed us to see, believe, love and obey our now-beloved Lord Jesus.

Why do people hate Him?

Jesus Himself told us. In John 15, He reflected on being hated because He was not of this world.  “If the world hates you,” He said, “know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. (John 15:18-19, my emphasis)

He is not of this world, not sullied with our fallen nature, not depraved in mind and heart. His purity and perfection puts us to shame. Have you ever noticed how beauty makes ugliness even uglier? Have you ever been in a group when somebody started telling a dirty joke, only to become aware of the presence of a godly person? Everyone ends up feeling awkward and uncomfortable. So people hate Him.

In the same way, people hate Christ because He exposes their sin. "If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now that have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me hates my Father also...now they have seen and hated both me and my Father" (John 15:22-24, my emphasis).

Nobody likes to be told they are wrong. But Jesus confronted hypocrisy and deception and evil. He told the religious leaders they were a bunch of hypocrites and that they made life harder for the people they were supposed to help. He said that people are enslaved to sin, and they need rescuing. He exposed our sin. And people hated Him for it.

Maybe the most basic reason that people hate Christ is because He is the Lord and they don’t want Him to rule over them. Jesus told a parable to make that point. "A nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and then return. Calling ten of his servants, he gave them ten minas, and said to them, 'Engage in business until I come.' But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, 'We do not want this man to reign over us.'" (Luke 19:12-14, my emphasis)

You even hear it right before Jesus' crucifixion, when Pilate was trying to figure a way to release Christ. “Shall I crucify your King?” And they shouted back, "We have no King but Caesar. Crucify Him." (John 19:15)

It’s one thing to think that you have a free ticket to heaven. Just pray a prayer and you’re in. But what if Jesus claims to own you? What if He says, "Deny yourself and take up your cross and follow Me”?

One of the songs we sing a lot in church is “All I Have is Christ.” The end of the first stanza reflects the truth: And if You had not loved me first, I would refuse You still.” I'm so glad He overcame my hatred and turned it into love.