Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. (John 13:1)
Jesus knew that his hour had come… John is serious with the use of the word “hour” throughout his Gospel. Jesus’ first public moment of ministry, at the wedding in Cana of Galilee includes these lines, “My hour has not yet come.” But now, here, in the opening lines of chapter 13, something has shifted. There’s a change.
“Jesus knew that his hour had come…”
The word ‘hour’ is used in two different ways in the New Testament. It can literally mean the hour on the clock, like when we say, “at the noon hour,” to recognize the subdivision of a day. It can also mean “the providentially fixed moment.” The hour. If you’re willing to see it this way, it’s as if John is saying that the action of Christ on the cross is the eternal breaking into the temporal. The heavenly tres- passing into the earthly. The cross and the grave and all that follows is an in breaking, a disruption, and a disturbance of the ordinary way of our lives.
“Jesus knew that his hour had come…”
His hour opens us to this hour. This eternal reality of God is meant to impact the subdivision of your day. The stunning work of Christ accomplished through his life and death and resurrection is meant to reorient the habits of your life.
The hour John is referring to in chapter 13 verse 1 is both the actual moment Jesus gives himself to the impending reality of the cross, and also the consequences that decision has on our life and this world and the eternal meaning of both.
“Jesus knew that his hour had come.”
His hour opens us to this hour. The hours of your day today. The conversations you’re going to have, and the people you’re going to meet. The job you do and the family you’re a part of. The hours of our lives are more than the sum of our actions because the hour for Christ had come. In other words, the world is enchanted with the impact of Christ’s cross. Not just as an example for how we ought to behave if we’re going to imitate him, but as a force, a current, and a presence that animates all of our days and hours.
As we pray and fast and consider ways to give to those in need this Lent we want to ask this question: “What hour is it for you?” We’re asking it from two perspectives.
First, “what does following Jesus look like in this moment?” Second, “how do we need the Spirit of Christ to animate our hearts for the hour at hand?”
“Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.” (John 13:1)
By Jon Brown
