His Hour Had Not Yet Come

In one paragraph

Randy preached this Easter morning from personal grief as well as from scripture, working through the Gospel of John's repeated phrase "the hour has not yet come" to show that Jesus moved through His earthly life with full knowledge of where it was heading. The death of his closest childhood friend, Chad, three weeks before Easter gave the message an unusually personal weight. The two threads,...

Read together

1. John 2 (the wedding at Cana) Jesus says 'my hour has not yet come' when Mary asks him to act
2. John 4 (the woman at the well) Jesus tells the Samaritan woman the hour is coming when true worshipers will worship in spirit and truth
3. John 5 Jesus says an hour is coming and is now here when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and live, and all in the tombs will come out
4. John 7:6 Jesus says his time is not yet here but their time is always opportune
5. John 7:30 people sought to arrest Jesus but no one laid a hand on him because his hour had not yet come
6. John 11:35 Jesus wept at the tomb of Lazarus
7. John 12:23 Jesus says the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified
8. John 12:27 Jesus says his soul is troubled and asks whether to pray to be saved from this hour, but says this is the very purpose he came
9. John 13 (opening verses) before the Passover feast Jesus knew his hour had come to depart to the Father, having loved his own to the very end
10. John 16:2 Jesus warns that the hour is coming when those who kill his followers will think they are offering service to God
11. John 16:25 Jesus says the hour is coming when he will no longer speak in figures but will tell them plainly about the Father
12. John 16:32 Jesus says the hour is coming when the disciples will be scattered each to his own home and leave him alone, yet the Father is with him
13. John 17:1 Jesus lifts his eyes to heaven and prays 'Father, the hour has come, glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you'
14. Matthew 26:36-46 Jesus in Gethsemane is grieved and distressed, prays three times for the cup to pass, finds the disciples sleeping, and says the hour is at hand
15. Hebrews 4:15 we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one tempted in all things as we are yet without sin
16. Hebrews 5 (referenced as pointing to the garden) in the days of his flesh Jesus offered prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the one able to save him from death
17. Romans 6:5 if united together in the likeness of Christ's death we shall also be in the likeness of his resurrection
18. Philippians 2 (referenced for 'emptied himself' and obedience unto death) Jesus emptied himself of divine prerogative and became obedient even to death on a cross so his name would be above all names
19. Philippians 3:10 Randy's prayer to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death to attain the resurrection
20. 1 Corinthians 1:18 the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing but the power of God to those who are being saved
21. James (paraphrased) to know to do good and not do it is sin
22. Hebrews 13 (the benediction) the God of peace who brought back from the dead the Lord Jesus equip you with everything good for doing his will

Talk about it

1. Randy described a sense of time running through the Gospel of John, with Jesus repeatedly saying 'my hour has not yet come' until finally declaring that it had arrived. What does it mean to you that Jesus lived his whole life moving with purpose toward that specific hour?
2. Randy shared that when he stood at the tomb of Lazarus, Jesus wept, and that Randy believes Jesus was weeping not just for his friend but over death itself and the grief it causes. Have you experienced a loss that gave you a new or deeper understanding of why Jesus wept there?
3. Victor Hugo's poem said, 'You who weep, come to this God, for he weeps. You who suffer, come to him, for he cures.' Randy pointed out that Jesus weeps with us but does not suffer now because he is risen and interceding for us. How does the difference between those two things, his sympathy and his victory, affect the way you bring your grief to God?
4. Randy read from Hebrews that we can draw near with confidence to the throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace in our time of need. He also said he does not usually know he is approaching his time of need until it is already upon him. How does that reality shape the way you think about staying close to God day to day rather than only in a crisis?
5. Randy closed with Philippians 3:10 and the idea of knowing Christ, the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, and he said that entering into the fellowship of his sufferings involves a certain amount of pain and willingness to weep with others. What would it look like practically for you to pursue that kind of fellowship with someone around you who is hurting right now?