Chapter 27
Hated for Doing Good
DO YOU love what is good?— Both of us would say that we do, wouldn’t we? But do we really love it so much that we would do what is good even if others hated us for it?— It takes courage to do that, doesn’t it?—
Do you think the Great Teacher had that kind of courage? Did he do good even when others hated him for it?—
Often people liked Jesus for the good things he did. Once all the people of a city gathered right at the door of the house where he was staying. They came because Jesus had been making sick people well.—Mark 1:33.
But sometimes what Jesus taught showed that the people did not believe the truth. Did everyone like to hear him then?— Were they willing to change their beliefs?— Not everyone was. In fact, some of them showed real hate for Jesus because he spoke the truth.
This happened one day in Jesus’ own city of Nazareth. Jesus went into the synagogue. The synagogue is where the Jewish people met.
Jesus stood up and gave a fine talk from the Scriptures. The people at first liked it. They were amazed at the beautiful words that came out of his mouth. They could hardly believe that this was the young man who had grown up in their own city.
But then Jesus said something else. He told about times when God showed special favor to people who were not Jews like them. When Jesus said this, those in the synagogue became angry. Do you know why?—
They thought they were the only ones to have God’s special favor. They thought that they were better than other people. So they hated Jesus for what he said. And do you know what they tried to do to him?—
The Bible says: ‘They grabbed Jesus and rushed him outside the city. They led him to the edge of the mountain and were going to throw him over the side and kill him! But Jesus got away from them.’—Luke 4:16-30.
If that had happened to you, would you ever have gone back to talk to those people about God again?— That would take courage, wouldn’t it?— Well, about a year later Jesus did go back to Nazareth. And the Bible says: “He began to teach them in their synagogue.” Jesus did not stop speaking the truth because of fear of men who had no love for God.—Matthew 13:54.
On another day Jesus was in a place where there was a man whose hand was all withered up or crippled. Jesus had power from God to heal that man. But some men who were there were trying to make trouble for Jesus. What would the Great Teacher do?—
First he showed what was the right thing to do. He asked: ‘If you had a sheep that fell into a big hole on the sabbath, would you lift it out?’
Yes, they would do that for a sheep, even on the sabbath, the day when they were supposed to rest. So Jesus said: ‘It is even better to help a man on the sabbath, because a man is worth more than a sheep!’ How clear it was that Jesus should help this man by healing him!
So Jesus told the man to stretch out his hand. Right away it was made well like the other one! How happy that man was!
But what about those other men? Were they glad?— No. They hated Jesus even more. They went out and made plans to kill him!—Matthew 12:9-14.
People are like that today. Some like what is right. Others do not. No matter what we do, we can never please them all. So we have to decide whom we really want to please.
Whom do you want as your friends?— Do you want good people for friends?— Do you want Jehovah God to be your friend?— Then you must always do what is right.
But if you do good, will the Devil like you?— And, really, do you want the Devil to like you?—
There are people whom the Devil likes. The Bible calls them “the world.” “The world” is made up of all the people who are not followers of the Great Teacher. The Great Teacher said: “If you were part of the world, the world would be fond of what is its own. Now because you are no part of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, on this account the world hates you.”—John 15:18, 19.
Some people of the world say they believe in Jesus, but they do not teach others the truth about God, as Jesus did. If you show them from the Bible that they are not teaching the truth, will they like that?— No, most of them won’t. But you may find someone like that man with the withered hand. He was grateful that Jesus did not hide the truth.
There are many people who do hide the truth. They are afraid of what other people think. They are so worried about what other people may say that they hold back all their lives from doing what they know is right. What a shame! They miss out on so much happiness in life. And they miss out on the approval of God too. We don’t want to be like that, do we?—
(Read together these scriptures to show that we should never let fear of what other people might think hold us back from doing what is right: Proverbs 29:25; 1 Samuel 15:24 [1 Kings 15:24, Dy]; Matthew 26:69-75; John 12:42, 43.)