The Hour is at Hand

Saturday, April 4

Luke uses the phrase “he set his face to go to Jerusalem” (9:51) as one of the key turning points in his narration of the story of Jesus. The three synoptic gospels all use a roughly 3-part geographical outline that has Jesus ministering in and around Galilee, traveling to Jerusalem, and then arriving in Jerusalem for the most dramatic week of his life. The geographical North (Galilee) to South (Jerusalem) arrangement has been noted as a way to heighten the theological significance of the Incarnation, God coming down to his creation.

Luke’s phrase “set his face” is akin to Matthew and John’s “the hour is at hand.” Here in Matthew, Jesus opened his ministry saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (4:17) He told the disciples to do the same thing as they went out via his commissioning several chapters later (10:7). There is a sense of urgency infused into the patient ministry of Jesus that is challenging to comprehend.

Time is one of the key themes in this Gethsemane scene because time is a key theme in the Bible as a whole. God’s sense of timing continually confounds all those who would seek to control and bend events to their own will. One of the principal Old Testament stories that shapes the rest of the biblical narrative is the 40-year wilderness wandering recounted in the Pentateuch. God’s way of working through a relationship of trust is utterly baffling to the Israelites, who had spent years steeped in the transactional approach to religion of the Egyptians. God commands Abram to “go,” (Genesis 12:1), and the text makes a distinct point to highlight that Abram “believed the Lord” (15:6), meaning that he had faith in the Lord. The faith of Abram was a concrete demonstration of what Proverbs affirms: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.” (3:5)

Perhaps the most vexing problem related to time is how little control we have over it. “Teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom,” the Psalmist prays (90:12). It is challenging to live in sync with God’s timing because we are often tempted to put our faith in what we can see and measure instead. The events of Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of Holy Week serve as the most potent reminder that time is in God’s hands, and that even when it seems like all hope has been lost, as if the lonely despair of Saturday is just the way it is in life, it really is true that “joy comes in the morning” to “those who wait for him” (Isaiah 30:18, 64:4).

Hasten, O Father, the coming of your kingdom; and grant that I your servant, who now live by faith, may with joy behold your Son at his coming in glorious majesty. You have taught me that in returning and rest I shall be saved, in quietness and in confidence shall be my strength. By the might of your Holy Spirit lift me, I ask, to your presence, where I may be still and know that you are God. Amen.

Written by Faculty Members of the Gary Cook School of Leadership at Dallas Baptist University.