The Hour

Ever wonder what Jesus was taking about in John 2 at the wedding at Cana when He told his mother "Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come." (John 2:4)?  

To be honest, I hadn't given it much thought until this year, and specifically as I have started my 2023 devotional reading in John.... reading this year not chapter-by-chapter but thought-by-thought (which has taken me a little longer to get through this time).  

I always thought, and probably because it's in line with what I've been taught, that Jesus was talking about His time to make His public ministry known, when He's referring to "my hour."  Also, there is a tradition that this act Jesus did in this narrative of turning water into wine was His first miracle... John says in John 2:11 that "This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him."  It could have been Jesus' first miracle, but perhaps this sentence was more written by John, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, to denote this event as the first sign Jesus gave where His disciples saw with spiritual eyes that He was the Son of God.  

Jesus was there at the wedding with His disciples, so perhaps it isn't his first miracle, but it was His first "sign."  I'll let you sit and debate.  John's writings are a little different, which is why I find them fascinating because John writes in the strange way that I think.  

A few years ago, I read a series of sermons on 1 John a few years back from Martyn Lloyd Jones, a 19th century Reformed Welsh preacher in England, and something Jones preached about how John writes has stuck with me.  Forgive me for not being precise, because the book is still in boxes. 

Jones noted how John tends to write his epistles (1 John specifically in this case) but also his gospel "in circles" where the Apostle John will circle back to the same idea multiple times in his writings, and that he doesn't write methodically and systematically like Paul, or like an action film like Mark and Luke.  In John's Gospel, you see the Apostle center his work around a really big idea and then circle around thoughts that each reinforce that idea.  

John also states the purpose of his writings clearly in a summary statement, even if some of the things he writes in his letters are confusing, symbolic (ever read Revelation?), and filled with metaphor.  

He does this in John 20:30-31, where John writes this:

"Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name."

John didn't purpose to write out every detail of Jesus' life and ministry.  Matthew, Mark, and Luke were written in that style, and they could not capture everything. John was focused on this one thing, which is that Jesus is God and that belief (trust) in Him was the only way to true life.  

Everything John is writing is centered around this idea.  These verses are, in a way, a decoder ring to everything that is in John's gospel.  

Reading John, you observe several themes presented. 

First, "the signs."  John presents seven specific miracles that present Jesus' divinity and what "life in His name" means.  Turning water into wine is the first of these signs John presents. 

Second, the "'I am' statements," which the more I mediate on John are linked to the signs.  For example, when Jesus states "I am the bread of life," (John 6:35) it is related specifically to the feeding of the 5,000 and meant to interpret the sign that the miracle is pointing to.  

Third, is this theme of "the hour," which is first brought up when Mary and Jesus are discussing a potential socially awkward scenario of running out of wine at a wedding.  This theme comes up again when John mentions that the Jews could not arrest Jesus because "his hour" had not yet come.  Again, the theme comes in the upper room when Jesus washes the disciples' feet and gives his last words to them before the Passion will begin. 

What is this "hour" mean?  I don't claim to be a scholar, but what I am seeing in these passages is that the "hour" is a specific appointed time that everything in His life and ministry is pointing to. 

I can say this boldly, I believe, because Jesus stated as such Himself.  In John 17, which is called the "High Priestly Prayer," Jesus starts by saying this:

"When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed."

I tend to skip over this part, and get to the part about where Jesus prays for me (I am still "flesh" and tend to focus on me).  This time, the Spirit has glued me to this line, because "the hour" (or appointed time) that Jesus is talking, the hour that He will be glorified, is the hour where He will go to the cross to purchase this eternal life for all who call on His name.  This is the hour that He will institute the New Covenant through the sacrifice of Himself on the cross, taking on the punishment for sin that all of us deserve and absorbing the wrath of God on behalf of all who call upon His name.  

And as a result, we who come to Jesus and through the sacrifice of "this hour" receive from Jesus the life that He bought for us, are given true life and the promised Holy Spirit (John 16:5-15).  

Let's go back in time to Cana for a second... 

What if... when Jesus is telling his mother that his hour has not yet come, He is talking about the cross?  

Also note that Jesus does the miracle.  He turns water into wine.  This is pointed to as a sign of what is to come from Jesus's hour. 

How does this impact how you see this sign?  

Here are my non-scholar thoughts: 

First, there is no hope of more wine being delivered at the party.  Mary cannot produce wine even if she wanted to, but knew that Jesus uniquely had the ability to restore the wedding party.

Second, the water Jesus asks them to retrieve is poured into vessels specifically used for ritual purification that would be required under the Jewish Law.  

Third, the wine that Jesus produces from the water poured into the ritual purification vessels is not only abundantly able to keep the festivities going but is also noted as being far superior to the original party wine.  

Let's apply this to our lives today.

Under Adam and dead in sin, we cannot produce eternal life in and of ourselves.  We aren't capable and the efforts that we attempt in our fallen nature will always fall short.  

We need to, like Mary did, have spiritual eyes to see our hopeless condition and that Jesus is the sole source of life (or in the temporal sense in the moment, of wine). 

The water was put into vessels of the Old Covenant (the Law) which could never save us but is there to point us to Christ (see Romans 3:19-20).  Jesus was the only person who could fulfill the requirements that the Law held over us, and died to take on the punishment of the lawbreaker (us) thus fulfilling the Law and by such instituting a new covenant (or way for us to approach God) because of the cross.  

We offer to God our empty broken lives and admit that we can't obey God's Law, and confess our need for Christ.  We put our water in the jar.  

When we trust Christ, He does more than just make our water clean, but He transforms our lives into something great, beautiful, and JOYFUL.  He give us a life that we not only couldn't produce in ourselves, but a life that is far superior and more full of life than we could ever dream of!  This, he does, by (John 16) giving us the Holy Spirit and by thus permanent uninterrupted fellowship with God through the Spirit.  

Finally, in case you think I'm just making this interpretation up, John in his gospel includes details about conversations that add light to the sign that he wrote about and support the spiritual meaning of the sign.  This sign, I believe, is no different.  Following the wedding at Cana, what do the next chapters bring?

John 3:  Nicodemus meets Jesus at night, and they discuss that in order to receive the Kingdom of God that one must be born of the Spirit, a result of God giving His only begotten son.  Nicodemus is confused (a common reaction to when Jesus makes spiritual points using earthly analogies).  People hold up a verse reference from this conversation at NFL games today. 

John 4:  Jesus meets the woman at the well and turns around a conversation about a drink of well water into the woman's need for Jesus to give her "living water" which does not come from ones' view of where to worship but that the true worshippers will worship "in Spirit and in truth."  The woman at the well has her own experience of putting her metaphorical water into the purification jugs when she is asked to "call for her husband" and by such her need for life is revealed.  She believes, and then tells everyone in her town about Jesus.  

Neither broken approach to self-salvation is adequate.  The Law-keeping Pharisee and the Samaritan woman who can't keep a husband... the "righteous" and the "sinner" are both in need of regenerating life.  So are we.  We need to see that Jesus is our only way to life and give up own failing attempt and trust wholly in Christ.

News flash.  Both did, and received the life that Jesus promises. 

Pick your analogy.  New Wine.  New Birth.  Living Water.  

Jesus frees us, gives generously of the Spirit, and He gives us the life that we were created to enjoy.  This was produced in his hour, when the Judge laid down his life to forgive the law-breaker and satisfy the holiness of God once and for all in forgiving sinners.

And our lives, as a result, when we walk in the Spirit are a refreshment and a joy to us and to everyone around us.  This is life, and life to the full.  

What a Savior!  The life He gives is like no other, and it is free.  Will you receive it?  Will I?  

This is the question for this hour.  Reformation and revival depend on this.