By Not Known
Our time of glory is generally some moment of triumph. We glory when finally marrying, becoming parents, gaining a higher degree, beating an illness, becoming a CEO, winning that gold medal, mastering a hobby or being wealthy enough to retire.
It was different for Jesus. His death was his hour of glory.
John’s Gospel has a great sense of timing. Several times this or that event did not happen because it was not yet Jesus’ time (eg 2:4; 7:6,8,30; 8:20). But then we come into passages when Jesus speaks of his ‘time’ or ‘hour’ having come (eg 13:1).
The tempo increased in the week before Easter. John does not record the Palm Sunday entry to Jerusalem, but gives a picture of events moving to their climax over those last days.
The hour of Jesus’ glory was the hour he died on behalf of sinful humanity (12:23-27). For those who believe it is an hour of life, but for others it is an hour of judgement (12:31).
Jesus glorified the Father (12:28; 17:1), himself and those whom he saved when he died. The Father was glorified as his will was done and redemption achieved. The Son was glorified by achieving the purpose for which he came (1 Tim 1:15). Believers are glorified as God’s saving and restorative purpose in us is fulfilled (Rom 8:19-30).
Surely it is only a heart of stone that can be untouched by this. What an amazing Lord to name his death for us as his moment of highest glory and the hour for which he came.
Much can be said about the life of Jesus. However, his sense of where his hour and his glory lay should be central to our ‘reading’ of him. The Gospels and letters present his Cross and resurrection as making all the difference to our view of Jesus and our understanding of the Christian faith.
Let us keep these things central as we revisit Easter this week. Let us ponder and wonder at what manner of person Jesus is that the crowning glory of his life was to die for us. Then let us ponder whether the things we glory in are but tiny triumphs and small ambitions.
David Burke