His Hour Had Not Yet Come

We have seen Jesus avoid death a few times now with the byline “for his hour had not yet come.” This morning I find myself reflecting on God’s perfect timing. He is in control and is always working for our good even when we might feel like he is hiding from us, ignoring us, or absent. Some times I even feel like He sneaks up on me like Jesus did in Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles in today’s gospel. God sneaks in when the timing is right for us to receive exactly what He has been preparing for us. He sneaks in not to be sneaky, but so that we are not startled or frightened or disturbed. God is gentle in His ways and He knows exactly when to show up (He’s actually always present, but He knows when to make His presence known). Jesus knew that it wasn’t time to get things moving along so he snuck onto the scene, not to be deceptive, but to be present to what was happening. Again, the Jews were struggling to accept that Jesus was sent from God because their idea of God’s workings had become dictated by rules and regulations, practices and rituals, and not about the loving, the healing, the miracles, the treatment of sinners, and the reaching out to those on the margins. Jesus was not what they expected God to look like. How many times have I tried to capture God in a small box of my skewed ideas of what He looks like, sounds like, and is like?

Jesus overheard their confusion and felt it necessary to chime in. He realized that they were stuck on a technicality like location. Scripture stated that they would not know where the Messiah would come from and yet the truth is that did not know from whom he came. They were stuck on the minutia and missing the Truth. Raise your hand if you’ve ever been stuck on the superficial while missing the heart of the matter. It happens and we just need to be gently reminded to look beyond, to go deeper, to go wider, and to see into the heart of God. Jesus responded to their confusion, “You know me and also know where I am from. Yet I did not come on my own, but the one who sent me, whom you do not know, is true. I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me.” Again, I am prompted to say that in the past I have read these lines of Jesus as him using a stern or more frustrated tone, however, today I read these lines with the tenderness that God has been speaking into me lately. When I re-read this from that place of tenderness and mercy it hits me in a different place in my soul. Jesus was present to what was happening and he met them exactly where they were at in their walk. He does the same for us. He hears our confusion, he listens to our skewed ideas, he understands where we are coming from, and then he responds to us with what we need to hear, or work on, or address. It is never from a place of anger or exasperation, and always from a place of love and mercy. God is a gentleman and He wants to court us into a deeper relationship. Courtship is thoughtful and gentle and affectionate and creative. Jesus knows that if the Jews just had a personal relationship with the Father, then they would also know His nature and in knowing the nature of God, they would immediately recognize that Jesus was that Word made flesh. Jesus knew that he needed more time to continue showing them what God looks like, acts like, and is like. His hour had not yet come. The good news is that he continues to be patient with us because he loves us. God’s timing is perfect.

Let’s remember that Jesus is always present to our confusion, to our ponderings, and to our place on the journey. He longs to chime in with what we still need to look at, or learn, or know, or deal with. These chiming ins are never done with force or in anger, and always spoken in peace and mercy. He wants us to know where he came from and that is from an all-loving Father who longs to move in and simply be our Dad. I just remembered the title of a TV show from the 70’s called The Courtship Of Eddie’s Father (I know…random!). Anyway, perhaps today we can start our own Courtship With Jesus’ Father and remember that’s where we come from. It is well with my soul. 

Reading 1 WIS 2:1A, 12-22

The wicked said among themselves, 
thinking not aright:
"Let us beset the just one, because he is obnoxious to us;
he sets himself against our doings,
Reproaches us for transgressions of the law
and charges us with violations of our training.
He professes to have knowledge of God
and styles himself a child of the LORD.
To us he is the censure of our thoughts; 
merely to see him is a hardship for us,
Because his life is not like that of others,
and different are his ways.
He judges us debased;
he holds aloof from our paths as from things impure.
He calls blest the destiny of the just
and boasts that God is his Father.
Let us see whether his words be true;
let us find out what will happen to him.
For if the just one be the son of God, he will defend him
and deliver him from the hand of his foes.
With revilement and torture let us put him to the test
that we may have proof of his gentleness
and try his patience.
Let us condemn him to a shameful death;
for according to his own words, God will take care of him."
These were their thoughts, but they erred;
for their wickedness blinded them,
and they knew not the hidden counsels of God;
neither did they count on a recompense of holiness
nor discern the innocent souls' reward.

Responsorial Psalm PS 34:17-18, 19-20, 21 AND 23

R. (19a)  The Lord is close to the brokenhearted.
The LORD confronts the evildoers,
to destroy remembrance of them from the earth.
When the just cry out, the LORD hears them,
and from all their distress he rescues them.
R. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted.
The LORD is close to the brokenhearted;
and those who are crushed in spirit he saves.
Many are the troubles of the just man,
but out of them all the LORD delivers him.
R. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted.
He watches over all his bones;
not one of them shall be broken.
The LORD redeems the lives of his servants;
no one incurs guilt who takes refuge in him.
R. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted.

Verse Before The Gospel MT 4:4B

One does not live on bread alone,
but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.

Gospel JN 7:1-2, 10, 25-30

Jesus moved about within Galilee;
he did not wish to travel in Judea,
because the Jews were trying to kill him.
But the Jewish feast of Tabernacles was near.

But when his brothers had gone up to the feast,
he himself also went up, not openly but as it were in secret.

Some of the inhabitants of Jerusalem said,
"Is he not the one they are trying to kill?
And look, he is speaking openly and they say nothing to him.
Could the authorities have realized that he is the Christ?
But we know where he is from.
When the Christ comes, no one will know where he is from."
So Jesus cried out in the temple area as he was teaching and said,
"You know me and also know where I am from.
Yet I did not come on my own,
but the one who sent me, whom you do not know, is true.
I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me."
So they tried to arrest him,
but no one laid a hand upon him,
because his hour had not yet come.