Towards the Hour
“Sir, we would like to see Jesus.” (John 12:20)
View of Jerusalem
From a distance, the rough landscape around Jerusalem seems to be quivering and moving. At closer quarters, the motion’s source is revealed: vast crowds of pilgrims, converging on the Holy City. Mount Zion is positively teeming with people — mostly Jews, but also a fair number of God-fearing Gentiles — eager to celebrate the great Feast of Passover.
Two Gentiles, two Galilean fishermen, and one Galilean carpenter-turned-Rabbi are standing on a hilltop just outside the city, slightly away from the surging crowds. The two Jews gesture towards the Greeks, who stand with awkward yet expectant eyes fixed on the Rabbi. A moment of silence follows while the Master seems to be lost in His thoughts. Philip and Andrew look at one another uncertainly.
Then, the Rabbi speaks. “The hour has come.” The disciples, glancing at their Master with quizzical looks, are struck by His suddenly eager tone. “It is the hour for the Son of Man to be glorified.”
The two Apostles exchange another look, this time of excitement. Did He really just say — Could He mean that — is it finally time to —?
As if replying to their thoughts, the Rabbi looks them in the eye and says something peculiar. “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies,it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.” Seeing their blank stares, He continues, “Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life. Whoever serves Me must follow Me.”
Philip and Andrew still don’t quite get it, but the words fill them with a strange sense of foreboding. What does He mean by all this talk about death? They are about to venture a question when the Master lets out a deep sigh and gazes at the sky with furrowed brow. “I am troubled now. Yet what should I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour?’ No, it was for this very reason that I came to this hour. Father, glorify Your Name.”
Suddenly a deep, penetrating sound echoes from the sky. The crowds of pilgrims pause for a moment and look around them — some think it sounded like thunder, and they hurry for the shelter of the city walls. Others insist that they heard a voice, and begin squabbling about what exactly it said. The disciples and their Gentile companions look to the Teacher with questions in their eyes. He, for His part, gazes down on the confused mass of humanity below Him. “This voice did not come for My sake, but for yours.”
He straightens and turns His face towards the Holy City. “Now is the time of judgment on this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And when I am lifted up from the earth … I will draw everyone to Myself.”
With that, He sets out with resolute step towards the gates of Jerusalem.