Articles
“The Messiah's Agenda”
One of the more subtle but nonetheless powerfully convincing evidences of Jesus’ authority is his mastery over the unfolding of his ministry over time. Jesus was able to perfectly calculate and even create and sustain the mounting tension between himself and his opponents until he was ready to lay down his life (Jn. 10:17). Sometimes he forbids others to speak of his identity once revealed (Mk. 1:34; 3:11-12; Mt. 16:20). Other times he commands recipients of his mercy not to tell others about him (Mk. 1:43-44; 5:43; 7:36). Scholars refer to this as the “Messianic Secret.” Early on, Jesus had to keep a lid on his identity either because it was too soon to reveal it or because Jews expecting a militant Messiah would only misinterpret it. John highlights the timing of the ‘Messianic Agenda’ in his Gospel account through periodic references to the “hour” of Jesus. This “hour” is a reference to Christ’s crucifixion and the resurrection and ascension bound up with it (2:4; 7:30; 8:20; 12:23, 27; 13:1; 17:1), or the consequences that come from it (5:28-29).
His hour had not yet come — Early on, Jesus states that his “hour” had not yet come. When his mother prompted him to solve the embarrassing problem of having run out of wine at a wedding in Cana, Jesus responded with “My hour has not yet come.” Since it was too early to reveal his identity he turns the water into wine rather inconspicuously. John reports that this was the first of his signs that “manifested his glory” (Jn. 2:1-11). Jesus’ fame grew, especially after he miraculously fed five thousand by the Sea of Galilee. The crowds misinterpret the miracle and attempted to “take him by force to make him king” but Jesus somehow escaped them (6:15).
The second reference occurs during the Feast of Booths. Everyone expected him to attend because, by this time, he was widely known. However, public opinion on him was divided (7:10-13). Earlier, he had healed someone on the Sabbath (5:1-17) then claimed that God was his Father (5:18) which incensed the establishment and led to a long monologue in which Jesus made even more extraordinary claims about himself (5:19-47). During the Feast Jesus stood up to preach in the temple complex and amazed everyone with his knowledge (7:15). He then claimed to be sent by God and to possess special knowledge of him (7:28-29). “So they were seeking to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come” (7:30). How he escaped the crowds is not explained but the reason for it was clear: “his hour had not yet come.”
The third mention comes a chapter later, during the same Feast of Booths. In the temple treasury, by the light of the burning lamps, Jesus proclaimed “I am the Light of the world” (8:12). Again, they wanted to arrest him but they could not “because his hour had not yet come” (8:20). Jesus narrowly escaped an attempted stoning (8:59). The tension between himself and his opponents was beginning to mount. After his claim that he was “one with the Father” they picked up stones to stone him (10:31) and, after a brief exchange, they tried to arrest him, “but he escaped from their hands” (10:39).
His hour had finally arrived — As Passover approached and the time for his self-sacrifice arrived, Jesus shifted his language from “my hour has not yet come” to “the hour has come.” After the raising of Lazarus, the attempts on Jesus life changed from being spontaneous outbursts of rage to more strategic conspiracies (11:53). At this point, Jesus “could no longer walk openly among the Jews” (11:54) as they were actively trying to arrest him (11:57). Upon entering Jerusalem on a donkey, in direct fulfillment of Zechariah’s prophecy of the Messiah (12:12-19), some Greeks seek Jesus and he said, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified” (12:23). He then spoke of his death and resurrection and resolutely claimed “For this purpose I have come to this hour” (12:27).
Just before the Feast of the Passover, “when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end” (13:1). In a symbolic act of self-sacrificial love that forecasted his crucifixion, he washed the feet of his disciples. That night, during the Passover feast, Judas left to provide the Jews their golden opportunity against Jesus. With Judas gone, Jesus prepared his disciples for his departure and the coming Spirit (chs. 14-16). Then he prayed for them and himself: “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you.” (17:1)
What came next was the “hour” of Jesus—his betrayal and arrest in the Garden, his interrogation before Pilate and the Priest, his flogging and humiliation before the crowds, his rejection and, finally, his crucifixion (chs. 18-19). This was the hour for which he had come. Just before bowing his head and yielding up his spirit on the cross, he said, “It is finished” (19:30). He had accomplished the mission for which his Father had sent him. He had done it (cf. Psa. 22:31). The Scripture had finally been fulfilled: God’s plan to deal with sin (Isa. 53:6), to defeat evil (Col. 2:15), to unite humanity by fulfilling the Law of Moses (Eph. 2:14-16) and to destroy death itself (Heb. 2:14; 2 Tim. 1:10). All of this was accomplished through his death and then, three days later, it was affirmed and vindicated through his resurrection. Though it looked like the ultimate failure, a divine misstep, John speaks of the cross only in terms of achievement and fulfillment.
The consequences of his hour — Back in John 4:23, Jesus declared, “the the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.” The arrival of Jesus meant that God could be worshiped anywhere by anyone. In Christ, it is no longer about ethnicity and location but about spirit and truth. In John 5:28-29, Jesus broadened the concept of the “hour” by speaking of the resurrection: “Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.” The “hour” is no longer qualified by “and is now here,” indicating that Jesus was speaking of the future general resurrection at the final judgment. Jesus can give spiritual life now and will be able to call forth the dead when that hour comes. We will all be held accountable to Jesus for the life we lived and how we responded to him.
Perhaps one or two of his narrow escapes could be chalked up to luck. Perhaps the fact that he died during Passover was a coincidence. But when we take all the verses together and see Jesus’ calm, self-conscious awareness of his “hour,” we are forced to draw the conclusion that he was following a divinely stipulated agenda. His crucifixion, along with his resurrection and ascension, was the “hour” of his glorification. Zooming out on his ministry shows that he was perfectly in control of the timeline of events leading up to his Passion. We can add this to the long list of credentials that substantiate the claims of Christ.
