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Daily Devotions

John

John 
Day 
Day 162

The hour has come

Text: John 12 : 23-36

“THE HOUR HAS COME”

Jesus had spoken on the subject of His “Hour” on a number of occasions. All the time, He had said that His hour had not yet come.

The first time Jesus used the term “My hour” was to Mary, His mother. She had come to share with Him about the problem that the wedding couple faced. They had run out of wine. Would Jesus help them? His reply was,

“My hour has not yet come.”
John 2:4

The cryptic answer would have sounded strange to the ears of most people. But there was a special and deep relationship between Jesus and His mother. He expected her to understand what He meant when He spoke of His hour.

John was fascinated with this term and he used it without explaining it much. He recorded a sense of growing hostility among the Jews. On more than one occasion, they had tried to arrest Him, but they had failed. The reason was stated simply.


“Therefore they sought to take Him,
but no one laid a hand on Him,
because His hour had not yet come.”
John 7:30
(John 8:20)

The months sped into years! All too quickly, Jesus said to His Disciples who asked Him about the possibility of ministering to the Greeks.


“The hour has come that the Son of Man should
be glorified.”
John 12:23

Those words sounded most solemn and ominous. What was that hour? How would the Son of Man be glorified in that hour, if that were a reference to His death? It was hard for the Disciples to fully understand what Jesus meant.

MINISTRY TO “THE GREEKS”

As long as Jesus had not yet died on the Cross of Calvary, His ministry to people outside Israel was going to be very limited. John recorded His ministry to the Samaritans (John 4), and soon after that he went on to write of Jesus ministering in Galilee once again.

Matthew and Mark recorded an occasion when Jesus answered the piteous request of a Syro-Phoenician woman (Mark 7:24-30; Matthew 15:21-28). The sorrowful woman from Canaan had come especially to see Jesus with a desperate plea. She said,


“Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David!
My daughter is severely demon-possessed.

But He answered and said,
‘I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the
house of Israel.’ “
Matthew 15:22, 24

In this conversation with the woman from Canaan, Jesus did two things.

1. On the personal side, He tested the faith of the woman of Canaan. She passed the test of faith with flying colours!

2. On the theological side, He revealed that He had been given a very specific mission. He was sent to minister to the house of Israel.

This did not mean that He could not or would not grant grace and mercy to those who turned to Him. Both Matthew and Mark recorded the fact that Jesus granted the request of the Syro-Phoenician woman. He healed her daughter and cast out the demon that had plagued her.

The ministry to “The Greeks” was well within the plans of God. However, the time of ministering to the Gentiles was not there and then. It would be something that His Disciples would attempt later. But first, He had to fulfill what His Father had sent Him to do. The Hour had come! It was a definite reference to His death, yet He spoke of it as His greatest hour. His death would not be in vain. Great glory would be attached to His death. One of the things that would come out of His death would be that He would draw both the Jews and the Gentiles to Himself.

THE ESTABLISHING OF A NEW EVERLASTING COVENANT

Different people responded to the thought of Jesus’ death in a variety of ways. Mary took it very personally. She knew that Jesus would die soon. She wanted to pay tribute to Him. Thus she not only poured the spikenard on the head of Jesus, but also on His feet. She climaxed her gift by wiping His feet with her hair! Her crown of glory was only good enough to wipe off the ointment that was poured at His feet!

The Jews couldn’t be more delighted if Jesus died in their hands! They had plotted and schemed for so long to put Him to death!

The Disciples were very vague about what Jesus meant when He spoke of the Hour of His death. They couldn’t bear the thought of Jesus’ death.

What was in the mind of Jesus as He spoke of His Hour in the context of ministry to the Greeks? Were the Gentiles included in God’s plan of salvation? To the Jews this was unthinkable. Jesus knew better. God’s plan included the Gentiles, but first he would have to lay down His Life for the sins of the world. Let us ponder this text from Isaiah.


“I was sought by those who did not ask for Me;
I was found by those who did not seek Me.
I said, ‘Here I am, here I am.’
To a nation that was not called by My Name (Gentiles)
I have stretched out My hands all day long
to a rebellious people,
Who walk in a way that is not good,
According to their own thoughts.”
Isaiah 65:1-2