“Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this
hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your
name!” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it
again.” (John 12: 27-28)
Over the years I have learned a great deal about people and their families by being with them as they talked about dying or their beloved’s dying. Our dying has a way of focusing and revealing the parts of our lives we consider important and how well we have met hardship and failure.
Our Lord in his Gethsemane wrestled with dodging his “hour” or being faithful to his Father. As we do, he weighed avoiding approaching pain and isolation. He could have sidestepped it to our everlasting harm.
“Hour” has much meaning in John. This is not clock time. “Hour” means Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension. John will spend chapters 13 to the end of his gospel talking about the “hour.”
Jesus’ sorrow around his approaching hour involves the need for his death. He carries the weight of all our sins - since the beginning of time - every human failure to place God ahead of ourselves in his “hour.” Jesus carries the burden of every cruelty - all human disobedience of God.
Jesus also experiences the unimaginable wrath of God upon the sin Jesus carries for us. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” At Jesus’ Cross God takes seriously our sin and wrong. Jesus’ cross overcomes the separation from God that our sin deserves. Here we see the tremendous cost of God’s grace - the death of His best Lamb.
Jesus asks, “Father, glorify your name.” “Glory” over and over in the Old Testament shows God’s presence. God’s glory descended upon Mt. Sinai and came to the Tabernacle in the wilderness. Scholars have called John chapters 13 to 21, “The Book of Glory.” Jesus asks that we see God’s presence in His death.
And God said, “I have glorified it.” I will be with you and the world will come to know that I am with you.
As we approach Jesus’ Last Supper, his Cross on Good Friday, and his Resurrection of Easter these words deepen our love for him and show us how to move toward death and be with others when death draws near.
Thank you, Lord for “this reason that I have come to this hour” - to show the Father’s glory - God’s presence in your dying, being raised on Easter.
The Rev. Spottswood Graves
Over the years I have learned a great deal about people and their families by being with them as they talked about dying or their beloved’s dying. Our dying has a way of focusing and revealing the parts of our lives we consider important and how well we have met hardship and failure.
Our Lord in his Gethsemane wrestled with dodging his “hour” or being faithful to his Father. As we do, he weighed avoiding approaching pain and isolation. He could have sidestepped it to our everlasting harm.
“Hour” has much meaning in John. This is not clock time. “Hour” means Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension. John will spend chapters 13 to the end of his gospel talking about the “hour.”
Jesus’ sorrow around his approaching hour involves the need for his death. He carries the weight of all our sins - since the beginning of time - every human failure to place God ahead of ourselves in his “hour.” Jesus carries the burden of every cruelty - all human disobedience of God.
Jesus also experiences the unimaginable wrath of God upon the sin Jesus carries for us. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” At Jesus’ Cross God takes seriously our sin and wrong. Jesus’ cross overcomes the separation from God that our sin deserves. Here we see the tremendous cost of God’s grace - the death of His best Lamb.
Jesus asks, “Father, glorify your name.” “Glory” over and over in the Old Testament shows God’s presence. God’s glory descended upon Mt. Sinai and came to the Tabernacle in the wilderness. Scholars have called John chapters 13 to 21, “The Book of Glory.” Jesus asks that we see God’s presence in His death.
And God said, “I have glorified it.” I will be with you and the world will come to know that I am with you.
As we approach Jesus’ Last Supper, his Cross on Good Friday, and his Resurrection of Easter these words deepen our love for him and show us how to move toward death and be with others when death draws near.
Thank you, Lord for “this reason that I have come to this hour” - to show the Father’s glory - God’s presence in your dying, being raised on Easter.
The Rev. Spottswood Graves
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