Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You. John 17: 1, NKJV.
Heavenly Parent, it is so good to trust in You! For You are faithful, and Your mercies endure forever. Thank You for preparing us for every situation in life. In the name of the One and Only Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.
Perhaps you have heard me refer to this chapter of the Bible as “Jesus’ prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane.” This is important because it is one of the last prayers of the Savior before He is crucified. His very last prayer will be His prayer of submission just before He is arrested and led away to the judgment hall (Matthew 26: 36-46). He begins His prayer with the words: ” ‘ the hour has come.’ ” He knew that the hour for which He had been born and prepared, was finally here. The Savior never lost sight of the reason for which He left the heavenly courts.
On another occasion in conversation with Andrew and Phillip, speaking about His imminent death He had declared, ” ‘The hour has come that the son of Man should be glorified’ ” (12: 23). However, there was an aspect of the glorification process that was troubling. Listen to these words from the same conversation: ” ‘ “Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ” ‘Father save Me from this hour’?” But for this purpose I came to this hour’ ” (27, 28a). Then turning to the Father He says: ” ‘Father, glorify Your name’ ” (28a).
Have you noticed the similarity between the Savior’s last prayer, and His comments during this conversation, and finally His words to the Father? On both occasions He recognizes that His being glorified, will in turn, glorify the Father. That is His reason for being.
The Father responds and says: ” . . . ‘I have both glorified it and will glorify it again’ ” (28c). Some of the people who were standing by heard what they described as “thunder”; others described it as the voice of an angel. Jesus’ answer to them is interesting, ” ‘. . . This voice did not come because of Me, but for your sake. . .’ ” (30).
Why was it important that a supernatural manifestation take place at the time Jesus is making this statement? For three and a half years Jesus has been with His disciples. They have heard Him talk about His impending death on more than one occasion. They refuse to see Him for the Suffering Messiah that He is describing to them (Matthew 16: 21-23). They have seen Him refuse the “honor” of being made king of the Jews by force (John 6: 15). Then, shortly after the resurrection of Lazarus He allows Himself to be escorted through the streets of Jerusalem and hailed as king (John 12: 12-15). The disciples are somewhat confused.
Whenever God wants to teach us truths of great spiritual value, not easily understood, but necessary for our growth, oftentimes He will allow the unexpected to happen to call our attention to the occasion – for future recall. “His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about Him and that they had done these things to Him” (16).
At times we are allowed to live through certain unexpected situations that may leave us perplexed and many times hurt, and, or, confused. Much will depend on how we deal with these circumstances. A good way of dealing with them is by remembering that we, as followers of Christ, have also been created to bring “glory to God.” These situations can either represent a mountain top or sinking sand. Jesus realized that when He said the following, ” ‘ “Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ” ‘Father save Me from this hour’?” But for this purpose I came to this hour’.” When we know what our purpose is on earth, like the Savior, we can learn to say with great peace of soul and mind: ” ‘Father, glorify Your name.’ ”
“Therefore, . . . whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10: 31)!