They will put you out of the synagogues; and indeed, the hour is coming when those who kill you will think that by doing so they are offering worship to God — the persecution Jesus predicts is both social (exclusion from synagogue community) and violent (execution). The tragic irony is that persecutors will believe they are serving God in killing Jesus' disciples; religious zeal becomes the cover for violence. This is the world's fundamental blindness: it mistakes opposition to God's work for service to God.

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

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