To understand this passage, we have to distinguish between two uses of the term “world,” particularly in John’s Gospel. In some cases, it refers simply to the cosmos – all creation – and human beings in general. For example, “God so love the world that he gave his only Son.” (Jn 3:16)
In other cases, it refers to those who have consciously rejected Jesus and who work against him – and today’s passage is an example of that.
On the one hand, we are called to be involved in the world as salt, light, leaven. On the other hand, we can’t be naively optimistic about the world, accepting its values indiscriminately.
There’s no getting around it. Our faith opens us up to a perspective that goes far beyond what eyes have seen and ears have heard. The reign of God has not yet fully come. In this time between the first coming of Jesus and his coming at the end of history, we will sometimes be at odds with “the world.”
These words of Jesus at the supper table are not meant to frighten us, or even make us hostile to the world. Jesus is consoling us. If “the world” sometimes ridicules me for my faith, Jesus says, “Remember that it hated me first.”
How did the ice cream sundae get its name?
Various sites claim to have created this treat. But one of the most popular stories says it was created in Ithaca, New York.
On a hot Sunday in 1892, the pastor of the local Unitarian Church went to a parishioner’s drugstore after the services to discuss his sermon. The parishioner got two dishes of ice cream, a cherry on top of each, and then put cherry syrup on the ice cream.
It tasted delicious. What to call this new taste treat? The pastor suggested “Cherry Sunday” – a gesture towards the Lord’s Day.
From then on, the soda fountain at the drugstore featured “Cherry Sundays.”
The new discovery quickly caught on…and began to spread…and the flavors changed…as did the spelling of its name.