The theme of things being far from easy continues. There will be rebellions within families with siblings betraying each other, parents their children, and children their parents. Now we again see an important point in understanding the Bible here. Jesus is not giving a law saying that this will happen in all families! There are often arguments about taking the Bible literally or not. A lot of these arguments (both from atheists and some Christians) are stupid. The Bible is absolutely true in what it intends to say, not in what it does not intend to say. So here Jesus is warning that these sorts of things can happen and sometimes will happen. He is not saying they always will happen. For there is much else in the Bible that talks about harmony and unity within families, and examples of this in practice.
"Everyone will hate you". Again this does not "literally" mean everyone (for that would mean there were no other Christians!), but we will be subject to hatred. There are places in the world where this means severe persecution. In the West there is an increasing hatred of Christians by new atheists, though this has not yet reached the level of serious persecution for the most part.
This hatred will happen because of Jesus. Jesus is Lord, and He is in the business of extending His kingdom (Isaiah 9:6,7), so the kingdom of this age is objecting violently. In the midst of opposition we must stand firm, and if we do we will be saved.
So there will be opposition, sometimes horrendous opposition, and we have to face up to this, but this does not mean that we suffer for the sake of suffering. Jesus tells them to flee from one place to another. As before, this is not an absolute law, there are times when you cannot flee, there are times to stay in the place. But fleeing is a perfectly legitimate option and a sensible thing to do in many cases, because Jesus said so!
No one knows exactly what the last bit of verse 23 means. Some take it as referring to the second coming, others as referring to the destruction of Jerusalem in AD70. Here is a thought (and it is just a thought). Perhaps Jesus is saying that when we embark on a task at some point it seems incredibly difficult, even impossible, facing apparently insurmountable opposition. Our tendency is to give up, thinking it impossible. Perhaps Jesus is saying that we should carry on, because we can be sure that Jesus will "show up" before we have time to complete the task, and that will change everything. As I say, just a thought.
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