The Time Has Come

The disciples finally ‘got it’. They don’t need to keep asking questions to keep their teacher teaching. They know he is the Christ and they can trust anything he says without question. Jesus has one more thing he needs to do before going to the cross and that is pray. His soul is troubled knowing what is to come and he is concerned that he will finish well, that his disciples will not lose faith, and that those to come will also find faith. In a way it teaches us the heart and mind of Christ.

“Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.” John 17:1-5

Up until now, any time people tried to stone Jesus or arrest him, John always said, “The time had not come.” As he records this prayer, he begins with, “The time has come.” If every other time, the time had not come for Jesus to be arrested or killed, it would seem that now the time has come for Jesus to be arrested and/or killed. But Jesus doesn’t say, “Okay, they finally got me.” He prays for God to glorify him so that he may glorify God.

Now I don’t know about anyone else, but when I see the word glorify, I don’t think death. Encarta Dictionary defines glorify: “make something appear superior, extol somebody or something.” Then we would expect that glorifying the Son would mean putting him on a throne or at least making him very popular. Interestingly, that is what happened, but not the way we would imagine it. Jesus is sitting on a throne in heaven, ruler over all the world. And he is very popular – most people know the name and either love him or hate him. But he got there by way of a horrific death on the cross.

Jesus is also given authority by God. This authority if over all people. A person with authority can determine outcomes for others depending on what they do with that authority. Jesus, out of his great love for us, is choosing to use this authority to give eternal life.

Eternity sounds like a long time. In our ‘time-line’ brains, eternity is a difficult thing to grasp. So Jesus defines it here for us: “that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” What is it about knowing God that is defined as eternal life? I have a feeling that the word “know” here is more than being aware of God. I think it contains the idea of experiencing a real relationship with God – experiencing his power to overcome and change things in our lives. I think it is an awareness of Jesus’ purpose here on earth and the fulfillment of that purpose. And above all, I think it is a love for God and gratitude for the extent that he went to show his love for us. Many times we wish for time to stand still when we are in a ‘euphoric’ moment. Well, maybe that is what eternity is – time standing still in the euphoria of being with Christ, the one we have learned to love because of his great love for us.

Jesus also says that he has completed the work God gave him to do on earth. What is this work? What was the purpose of Jesus coming in human flesh?

As I have been absorbing John’s teaching over the last several months, my overall impression is that Jesus’ work was to help people see the one true God as he really is. Over time, people worked at ‘following the rules’ and going through the motions, but they had lost sight of God. (This sounds like many of our churches today). They understood his holiness and his judgments, but they didn’t understand his love. Jesus had spent three years publicly teaching and privately spending time with the disciples, always pointing people to a loving Father. If we don’t get anything else from the entire book of John, we have to get that God loves us.

Now Jesus is ready to be glorified and go back to be with his Father, where he has been since the beginning of time. But what a hard thing he must do to get there. Who am I that he would go to these great lengths to show his love for me, that he would care enough to even notice me? Yet, here he is. The time has come.