I imagine that title grabbed your attention.  Of course I am not saying that I hate people, I am going to address why we as people hate other people.  I’m using “we” as a plural pronoun for human beings in general, not “we” as a church.  Now that we have that out of the way…why do we hate people?  There are a number of reasons.  First, because some people are cruel.  People hated Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin because of the atrocities they committed against other human beings.  I’m not suggesting it is right to hate them but it is understandable given their choices.  Second, we hate people that are different than we are.  I’m not saying we should, but it happens.  This is one reason “race wars” are so common.  We get so myopic as humans that we think people who are not like us are “just wrong.”  The third reason we hate people is the most troubling one to me.  I would call it “goody two shoes” hatred.  The phrase comes from a children’s book published in 1765.  It’s a story about a little girl named Goody who was impoverished, received new shoes and ran around showing them to everyone.  I guess nobody appreciated her blessings like she did.  I haven’t read the book but apparently the saying evolved to describe the hatred that develops over for others not only for good “fortune” but for goodness, hence…”goody-two shoes.”  I don’t know if Cain and Abel had shoes or not but that is when this problem started.  1 John 3:12 reveals the real problem between the brothers, “Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother's were righteous.”  And there is the problem.  Sometimes good people are hated because their goodness is a reminder of God.  When we don’t want God we don’t want goodness and vice versa.  This was the problem the Pharisees had with Jesus.  In our text for Sunday (Matthew 12), we’ll see that the leaders of false religion started plotting how they might destroy Jesus.  It really makes you wonder what was going on in their hearts.  But the rest of the Scripture makes it pretty clear, it wasn’t goodness they wanted.  When we are hated for being kind, doing good and seeking right ways it will be helpful to remember our Savior and the Prophets before Him.    If we ever sense any hatred developing in our hearts, we better get rid of it quick…it has no place in the heart of the one who is an apprentice of Jesus.