The hour is come

 

Agony in the soul of Jesus        v23-36

At the mention of the Greeks seeking him, Jesus entered into agony of soul, as the shadow of the cross was now upon Him.  The thought of expectant Jews and seeking Gentiles brought before Him the reality of the moment, this was why He had come, and now is the time.  The hour is come, the dreaded hour for Him, but the defining hour for the world.  He, gently, replies through Philip that matters were now so pressing, He must focus on the mission, and not be involved with any one group.  He spells out the terms of salvation.  It must be the suffering before the glory.

“The  hour is come that the Son of man should be glorified. Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground, and die, it abideth alone; but if it die it bringeth forth much fruit.  He that loveth his life shall lose it, and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.  If any man serve me, let him follow me, and where I am there shall also my servant be.  If any man serve me, him will my Father honour.   Now is my soul troubled: and what shall I say, Father, save me from this hour?  But for this cause came I unto this hour.  Father  glorify thy name.”

He takes up the natural process of sowing and reaping.  Only when the seed dies will it produce fruit.  He saw a future harvest of Jew and Gentle coming to Him in salvation.  But it will not happen unless, in His terms, He loses his life, He falls into the ground and dies.  The same principle applies to all of us who would serve him.  To serve Him is to follow Him, and that means to the cross, to die to all of this world, to lose our lives.  In the words of the hymn which mirrors our service with that of Jesus;

“So send I you to leave your life’s ambition,
To die to dear desire, self-will resign,
To labour long, and love where men revile you—
So send I you, to lose your life in Mine.

So send I you—to hearts made hard by hatred,
To eyes made blind because they will not see,
To spend, though it be blood, to spend and spare not—
So send I you to taste of Calvary.
"As the Father hath sent Me, So send I you."

The way to blessing is the way of death to all of this life, and Jesus was now facing the end of His life on earth.  The crucifixion, which was before Him and which was a matter of shame so far as this world is concerned, He characterises as glory.  He begins and ends the section with the glory of God.  The shameful cross, and all it involves, the rejection of men, the mocking, the brutality, the injustice, the suffering, the sense of loss, was a matter of glory to Him.   It was at the cross the Son of man was glorified; it was through the cross the Father will be glorified.  

At this the Father responded, verbally, and immediately, “I have both glorified it and will glorify it again”; people heard this audible declaration as thunder or the voice of an angel.  This is the third proclamation from above concerning Him.  He glorified God in His life, and He will glorify Him in His death.  What is true of Christ will be true of all who follow Him.  The cross, with all its shame will become the source of eternal glory.  Glory to God will come in the salvation of men and women from all walks of life.  Saved from a wasted life of sin, they will form what is later described as “…the riches of the glory of God's inheritance in the saints.” He will bring glory to God by reproducing godly fruit in the lives of believers, as we shall see in John 15 where He says “Herein is my Father glorified that you bear much fruit.  He will bring glory to God even in the death of His saints-John 21v19, where He says “…by what death He should glorify God.  Glory to Christ, glory to the Father. glory through the saints, glory in every fruit reproduced in our lives; even in a death because death removes a soul from the cesspool of this world and translates it to the purity of heaven.  Psalm 116v15 “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.  The word means that which is of great worth of great worth; Psalm 36v7, it is translated “excellent”, valuable, costly, glorious, splendid.  The reality, however, of this loss of life begins to bite. He says “Now is my soul, troubled…”-agitated, stirred, like the waves of the sea.  A sense of inward commotion takes over, restlessness, bringing disquiet into a peaceful situation. The reality of what the cross involved began to weigh heavily upon Him; the Greek word tarasso is used in Matthew 2v3-“all Jerusalem troubled”; Matthew 14v26-the disciples scared out their wits; Luke 1v12-Zachariah the priest shocked when he saw an angel; John 5v4-the angel stirring the water; John 11v33-Jesus emotionally disturbed at the anguish of Martha and Mary; John 13v21-Jesus troubled as He proclaimed one would betray Him.  This was real deep-seated anguish of soul.  Yet His resolve is undiminished.  He says “for this cause came I unto this hour”. He came into the world for this very purpose, this was the whole point of His mission.  He receives heavens’ full assent for all that He has done and for all he was about to do.  He then proclaims the defining issue of His mission.