Meeting the Moment

The Hour Has Come

Picture it - the Garden of Gethsemane. It’s a beautiful space of old olive trees, that have been there, some of them for thousands of years. There’s so much happening all around it as people go through their busy lives. Pilgrims gather there because it has an aura about it. It seems sacred…like a holy place. For Christians, that aura is embellished by the events that took place there, regarding the final moments of the Saviour’s life.

So we flip the hour glass and let the sands of time take us back to those fateful moments some 2000 years ago - where a solitary and indeed lonely man, is about to pray.

Having completed the Last Supper, the gospels state they sang a hymn and went into the night. Jesus separates himself from the broader group of 12. He walks to a quiet place with the trusted 3: Peter, John and James.

Jesus tells them to watch and pray – yet three times, as they fall asleep. A direct representation of fallen humanity’s inability to follow God’s instruction without the careful prompting and support of Jesus’ reassuring presence. Proof that we need Him to navigate life’s fickle waters. And now He moves on again, alone to offer His final, recorded prayer. Jesus’ final prayer, the longest prayer of Jesus, in the Bible . Our text, focuses on the first 5 verse of his prayer, his prayer for himself.

It’s Zero hour, borrowing a military term – because we are at war with the forces of darkness in the spiritual realm and in the world today – zero hour in the final operation of Jesus’ earthly ministry. The coup de grace in the battle for the eternal souls of humanity; the raison d'être or chief reason why He came to earth, born as a human, to die bete noire - considered the worst human whose punishment is to die on a vile cross.

Yet this in order to redeem same humanity from the second death.

It’s crunch time. His hour has come, His words. He is preparing to meet the moment. Oh, we look back to the start of his ministry, when he reluctantly changed water to wine at a wedding, 3 years before. His hour had not yet come, He did not want to prematurely announce Himself, He Messiahship was not about glitz, glory and good times. It was about salvation, redemption, restoration. But He did change water to wine, praying, as he does now. to bring glory to the Father. From first to last, Jesus’ consistency on display.

Text: John 17:1-5

As we read the opening words of His prayer, the three big themes of His life and ministry are clearly laid out:

1. Give glory to God - the Father. It is one of our purposes of creation.

“Everyone who is called by My name, Whom I have created for My glory; I have formed him, yes, I have made him.” Isaiah 43:7

We were created to worship Him with our entire being, with singular focus, over and above everything else - I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.

Romans 12:1

So Everything Jesus did, from His first miracle, water wine, to His largest - raising Lazarus back to life were uttered with words, in everyone’s hearing, glorifying God. He said it in public, and now in private, direct communion with the Father. His life’s testimony impeccably calls for worship, reverence and glory to God. “I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do.”

Dear Christ follower, church goer, curious observer, shouldn’t that be our purpose too?

2. Preach salvation:

Jesus came to proclaim the gospel: the good news that God wants to extend mercy to sinful humanity – you and I - who will die the second death because we cannot help ourselves.

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.” Ephesians 2:8,9

And, as we consider what a loving, merciful father does, we understand why Jesus draws attention to His glory. He is glorious because He is God, over and above all the things He created. But, in that glory above all creation, His glory shines forth in His goodness to an undeserving race - His free gift of grace, accessed simply by those who will believe.

So Jesus prays that we may know God, intimately, not just know about Him. That we will develop a loving, lasting, dynamic relationship with Him leading on to life eternal (Verse3).

Not only did He come to proclaim salvation, Jesus came to provide the means of salvation: “ as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. Jn. 17:2.

He said “I am the way the truth and the life - no one comes to the Father but by me - Jn 14:6

And now, the hour of that salvation is to be realised, by the Son of God, paying with His life, the deserved penalty of our sin. Dying in our place, in the most degrading way possible - death on a humiliating cross, designed for the worst of the worst, even though He was heaven’s best!

Those, who acknowledge and accept the pardon offered by that substitutionary death, know God and they are in Jesus.

a. If one is found ‘in Christ’ he/she are no longer condemned (Romans 8:1)

b. is a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17);

c. a child of God (Galatians 3:26)

d. capable of goodness (Ephesians 2:10).

3. And the third theme, in the opening of His prayer - the reward of faith and faithfulness to God;

His hour has come to die, and this is His faith - He is going to the cross, reliant on the Father to judge His life, and His work, and to honour Him by raising Him back to life. He has lived a life of faith, walked in the Spirit, and now, upon His death, He is asking the Father to judge in His favour and raise Him back to life. “And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.” Verse 5.

This is the blessed hope of all those who will worship God in faith. That even if they die, that at the Second Coming, they will be raised back to life - to live in the presence of God forever. Justified or redeemed by grace through faith; Sanctified by God’s Spirit in them, growing them, and at the Second Coming, Glorified or raised back to life incorruptible.

We have so far explored the introduction to Jesus’ epic prayer. We have seen Him outline the basic themes of His life’s work and ministry. He will then go on into the prayer, moving on from praying for Himself, as in these verses, to pray for His disciples who will face a time of confusion and prayer without Him, then He goes on to pray for all of those who will come to faith because of those disciples - including you and I.

ILLUSTRATION: Man given days to live. Are you ready, How will you meet the moment?

I will face it with grace and dignity.

LINK: I saw him doing what Jesus had done.

What other practical lessons can we gain from Jesus as He faces His moment? How He faces that hour that has come at last ? What can we learn as we face those big moments in our lives? Moments that define our character, our faith status, our spiritual fortitude? Jesus’ example in this moment gives us lessons on how we should face big moments.

A. Jesus engages in prayer . So many things can be said about prayer. But it is so encouraging to see the Saviour commit to prayer as He faces that pivotal moment that will define the status of fallen humanity. Not even the Holy venture of salvation is entered into without the Saviour of the world first praying about it.

We may talk about prayer being necessary for success. Being a channel of power. We may talk about prayer as a show of reverence for God who blesses the needs of His children.

In this moment, Jesus demonstrates that prayer…close communication with our Heavenly Father brings reassurance of the Divine purpose for our lives - that God will fulfil His will in our lives. Reassurance that we are not alone, we are not forgotten, we are not hopeless even though we may appear helpless. Prayer is power - yes; it is also peace. Peace to face our moment!

b. The faith of Jesus as an object lesson. He commits Himself in faith to God fully, unknowing what the outcome will be; unsure of God’s judgment in His favour, that His sacrifice is enough, but having faith. Claiming the promises of God - that God gives eternal life. That God is a righteous Judge who judges the merits of a person’s life of faith.

Some contend we need to exercise similar faith in our moment - we too need to have the faith of Jesus. Maybe we do exercise the faith of Jesus by being found in Jesus - “looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:2

Maybe we demonstrate the faith of Jesus - His faithfulness by emulating His calm surrender of all motives, desires and even doubts to the Godhead knowing in faith that our weaknesses are hidden by His grace - that grace being sufficient for our shortcomings -

2 Cor. 12:9.

Having faith in Jesus, and being faithful to His teachings in our big moments may therefore help us to meet those moments with grace and dignity?

c. Selflessness in the moment. He puts the needs of others first - at the expense of his own life. He does give them the shirt off his back! He then prays for everyone! In that, he recognise our fickleness, yet he resolves to see us to the door; the door that we must knock on! In this He proves His worthiness to be our King/God, of our worship. Dying for us, serving instead of wanting to be served. He is determined to see it through.

So many of humanity’s motives, especially in crunch moments fall back to selfishness. Kill or be killed, it’s you or me, do or die. Often we pick the outcomes for our own benefit. Think of Peter as he is identified as a Jesus follower. What does he do? I don’t know the man! Fright causes him to deny.

And before we criticise anyone, armchair critics, side seat drivers, hindsight pundits have never really faced the moment they analyse. What would they do in the situation? Jesus provides the exemplar. May we strive for such moral clarity, such grace and selflessness. May we too find Christ’s example in our moment!

D. Jesus demonstrated His hope in and for humanity . Although Jesus had no hope of pardon in that moment, God was not going to take the cup away, had hope in us nevertheless. Hope that we can choose Him and so choose good over evil, life over death. Why would He agree to die, if it were not so!

Jesus, from before the foundations of the world had taken on this mission, to be the lamb slain (1 Peter 1:20) because of His and God’s conviction that we can exercise our freewill choice for Him! Now, as His death looms, in His prayer, He prayed for the disciples who would soon abandon Him, that they will right their course and by extension, all of us who have been touched by them. If he has hope in us, shouldn’t we be optimistic too when faced with big moments of decision, doubt and doom?

Conclusion: Poem - The Cripple Boy.

Link: The cripple boy faced his moment. We are called upon to face moments.

Jesus faced His moment and emerged victorious, vindicated and glorified as he prayed in the garden. He faced it with grace and dignity in the Father.

Now, we can face life in Him. We can face and meet our moment and emerge victorious in Jesus! His victory is given to us if in faith we will claim Him as Lord and live the life of devotion He lived in the incarnation.

Won’t you kneel in prayer and supplication to Him?

Won’t you live your life, especially in the big moments in deference to Him?

Please do this today.