25 But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, ‘They hated Me without a cause.’
25 But [emphatic]
The “but” here is emphatic in the sense that the Jews’ reaction to Jesus was the opposite of what should have been expected. The Jews who deemed themselves as being true to Scripture violated it at its core.
this happened that the word might be fulfilled
God prophesied that the Jews would not heed their own Scriptures. God fulfilled His plan by all this hatred. People hate the idea that someone had to pay for their sins on the cross.
Through all this hatred of Jesus, the Father is in the business of fulfilling His plan. He would send Jesus to be crucified for the world.
which is written in their law,
“Law” here is not the Torah (first five books of the Bible). The idea may mean Scripture as a whole. “Is written” indicates that Scripture continues to be authoritative.
‘They hated Me without a cause.’
This is a quotation from Psalm 69:4 (Ps 35:19; 109:3). Psalm 69 was messianic. Despite Jesus’ revelation and suffering for others, people will hate Him. There is a gratuitous hatred of Jesus. There is no reason for doing this.
The idea is that if a mere human like David was deeply hated by his enemies, Jesus would be hated as well.
PRINCIPLE:
Unbelief is irrational.
APPLICATION:
People hate Jesus without adequate reason. They love darkness rather than the light (Jn 3:19). They think they are on the right track with God, but their belief system is a concoction of their own making. Religion is a deceptive system (Jn 8:44).
There is often discrepancy between our beliefs and actions and what is actually true in our lives.
