It is with these words that the Gospel of John introduces us to the events of Maundy Thursday. Even before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knew that His hour had come. It was His hour to depart from this world to the Father through suffering and death.
This, His hour, had come because He loved the Father and was obedient to the plan of salvation. He lived each and every hour of His earthly life in perfect obedience to every command of God in both heart and life. He lived each and every hour also in love for us. He would pray in Gethsemane seeking strength to complete the work which the Father had given Him to do. He lived in faultless love to God in order to offer up every hour of His perfect life to our account, to be received by a Spirit-worked faith.
Jesus’ love for us didn’t terminate at the close of that hour. Jesus’ love for us continues through each and every hour of our lives. He went the way of the cross so that we might be cleansed of sin at our baptism. He faced this, His hour, that our faith might be built up and confirmed through the recorded Word. He faced His hour so that we might face our last hour with confidence and joy and awaken to see Him face to face.
We don’t know what the next hour will bring. We do know that whatever comes, His love for us will be constant and will bear us up until our final earthly hour arrives. |
