Knowing Your Hour

Maundy Thursday – March 28

Exodus 12:1-14
Psalm 116:1-2, 12-19
1 Corinthians 11:23-26
John 13:1-17, 31b-35

Lately I have been musing about time. This is not something new for me. I often think about time. I have read many books about time, even one in which a physicist was arguing that time does not exist. (I presently am reading one that says time does exist and is the only constant thing in the world – everything else changes.) In fact, if you have been paying a little attention to my sermons in the past several months you may have noticed I have recently broached this subject several times. What brings me to this is the statement in John that tells us that Jesus knew his hour had come. That, of course, as we use it meant he knew his death was imminent. That is a fact that most of us will never know and probably do not want to know. Although some of us will be told that our hour will come in a certain period of time as some statistic in the annals of medicine. Putting that aside, I wonder what you would do if you knew what hour you were to die.

To guide your thoughts along this path I point to Jesus. Knowing that his hour had come, Jesus continued to do what he had been doing: teach those around him, heal the sick, raise the dead, serve and love others. Now he did not do it without some push-back. He did pray in the garden asking God to change the hour. But, in the end, Jesus answered God’s call to serve others in need and now calls us to do the same. It is because Jesus answered God’s call that we are able to do the same.

I encourage you today to look into your life and to think what you would do if you knew your hour. We did that by confessing our flaws when we began our worship this evening. I hope that you continue to think on Jesus’ hour and what it has done for you and then think how you may follow his example. And whether your hour may be tomorrow or in 50 years, know that it is because of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection that your hour is important to God. Live and work knowing that whenever it comes it comes with the joy of Jesus. Until then, answer God’s call to love others as God has loved you.