As it is, they have seen, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me without reason.’
Have you ever had a good reason to hate someone? I mean a really good reason? Hate is an interesting emotion. In an abstract sense, it is the opposite of love. Jesus is all about love, but when he comes to earth to visit his creation he is greeted by hate. Why?
Hate goes to a level inside a person that is grounded in who the person is. Not everyone hates. Some people seem to swim in hate. One doesn’t hate another person because they accidentally stepped on their toe. If they do lash out in hate, then stepping on the toe was an excuse, not the cause of the hate.
The people who hated Jesus hated him “without reason.” Oh sure, we know that they will make up a reason. In John 11:50 Caiaphas says, “You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.” The excuse was that if Jesus is not killed the whole nation of Israel would perish. Jesus is right in saying that this is not a reason because Caiaphas is not God. He cannot predict the future any more than you or I can. He is making his fears into a prediction so that they can be used as a faux reason.
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