"I Have Come To This Hour"

There is a HUGE - albeit risky - invitation in this upcoming Sunday’s gospel.

The invitation is to own up to places where you have been steering in one direction for a long time and have been trying to change course - and it’s just not happening. Perhaps it’s some habit or addiction.  You’ve exerted the power of your self-will lots of times.  You’ve quit that addiction dozens of times.  But your efforts are written on stone (that’s a hint to this upcoming Sunday’s Old Testament lesson as well). 

It could be some guilt over that thing you did twenty years ago.  And all your good deeds since then, written on stone (another hint), barely scratch the surface of that guilt.  You don’t feel any more forgiven at this moment than on the day you blew it. 

It might be some despair over all the suffering and all the pain in the world right now that never seems to end.  You listen to the news, and you despair that your own efforts, written on stone (another hint), can ever make the madness stop.

Maybe it’s a chronic yearning to break the mold – get a different job – start saying what you really mean – risk some great new adventure.  And day after day, the mold remains.  And that place in your heart just keeps on yearning.

Wherever that place may be, the announcement in Sunday’s gospel (John 12:20-33) is to say to you and me, “Look out, because the Son of God has set his sights on exactly that spot.” 

Jesus says in this passage, “Now, the hour has come.”  And he means that the entire universe is about to narrow down to an abandoned rock quarry just outside the walls of a small mid-Eastern city. Jesus says, “Now, the hour has come.”  And he means that all of time itself is just about to narrow down to 3:00 PM on a hot Friday afternoon.

Then Jesus sums it all up by saying, “For this purpose, I have come to this hour.”

“For this purpose, to move from surface words on stone to deep down words on hearts, I have come to this hour.  For this purpose, to make possible that which you were convinced could never happen, I have come to this hour.  For this purpose, to love the hearts of the people of Calvary/St. George’s Church on Sunday, March 21,  2021, I have come to this hour.”

If that’s not a reason to come to church this Sunday, I don’t know what is.  See you there!

Blessings, 

Jim