Throughout the Gospel of John, Jesus speaks mysteriously about his coming “hour.” When Mary asked Jesus to perform a miracle at the wedding at Cana, for example, he responded, “My hour has not yet come” (John 2:4). Later, as people began to be scandalized by Jesus’ claims, the Gospel says that they couldn’t arrest him, “because his hour had not yet come” (7:30, 8:20).  After entering Jerusalem for the last time, Jesus said, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified” (12:23). As he prayed to the Father on the night of the Last Supper, he said, “Father, the hour has come. Give glory to your son, so that your son may glorify you” (17:1).

What is this “hour” of Jesus, and what can it teach us about our own spiritual lives?

Scripture makes it clear that the hour of Jesus is the time when he endured his Passion and death. Jesus knew that the suffering of the Cross was not a random happenstance but was the linchpin of the Father’s plan of salvation. In this appointed time, Jesus would glorify God the Father by completely surrendering to the divine plan. The “hour” was when Jesus’ perfect obedience would reverse millennia of human disobedience.

In response to the loving sacrifice of Jesus, God the Father would glorify the Son. Jesus prayed to the Father, “I glorified you on earth by accomplishing the work that you gave me to do. Now glorify me, Father, with you, with the glory that I had with you before the world began” (John 17:4 – 5). Even before creation, the eternal Son of God had fully shared in the glory of the Father’s divinity. When he became man, the Son did not lose the glory of his divine nature, but took on the lowliness of our human nature. In the Resurrection and Ascension, the Father glorified the Son by fully drawing his humanity, including his body, into the glory of the Trinity (CCC 638), paving the way for the rest of humanity to share in that same glory.

In short, the surrender of Jesus during his “hour” led to his glory.

In our own lives, we, too, will face certain inescapable sufferings. Despite our best efforts, there are times when we will be unable to avoid physical or emotional hardships. The “hour” of Jesus teaches that there is value in embracing unavoidable difficulties with hope-filled surrender, in union with Jesus. St. Elizabeth of the Trinity wrote to her mother, for example:

The Master called the hour of His passion “His hour,” the one He had come for, the one He invoked with all His desire! When a great suffering or some very little sacrifice is offered us, oh, let us think very quickly that “this is our Hour,” the hour when we are going to prove our love for Him who has “loved us exceedingly.” [i]

This approach to suffering seems quite beautiful. Yes, we should take reasonable efforts to alleviate the pains we may experience, such as seeking the help of friends, professionals, and God himself. When it seems that God has called us to bear a particular Cross, however, it seems quite profound to be able to say with Jesus, “Now is my soul troubled. And what should I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But it was for this purpose that I came to this hour.’” (John 12:27). Such surrender not only glorifies God but also prepares us for even greater glory in eternity.