Tuesday of Holy Week by Emily Sheppard 3/30/21

Scripture Reading: John 12:20-36

“Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!” -John 12:27-28a NIV

This quote from Jesus shakes me to my core. Jesus fully understands what is about to happen to him—his sacrificial death on the cross—and he is faced with a choice. His choice is to either beg God to remove him from his role in God’s plan or to try and understand how to serve God faithfully in the face of what is to come. Of course, Jesus tells the crowd around him that he has chosen to glorify God, even while standing in the shadow of death.

I think there are several things to consider when we read this passage. First, it forces us to think about how we respond to hardships in our lives—the dreaded “hour” that Jesus mentions. We can all think of times in our lives when all we wanted to do was cry out for God to save us (and often times, we did). Second, we must remember that we are not Jesus. While Jesus sets an example of glorifying God’s name in the midst of pain, we cannot expect ourselves to hold the strength that our God-incarnate embodied. When we realize that we are approaching a particularly difficult “hour”, or season, in our lives, we do not have to force ourselves to be grateful for that hardship. Instead, we can lean on Jesus, who shows us in this scripture that he knows how to make meaning of horrific moments. We can be grateful for the love of the One who has already played the most important role in God’s plan—the One who takes on all of our sin, burdens, and heartache.

This scripture is not meant to scorn us for crying out to God for comfort; rather, it is to show us the strength of Jesus in times of distress. This is the strength that we can rely on when our own strength is compromised.

Holy God,
We praise You for filling us up where we are emptied. We thank You for being abundant when we are not enough. Stay close to us, O God, and be our stronghold. In our “hour” of need, You are the One who comes running. We glorify You. Amen.

--Emily Sheppard