Time passes, it seems surreal that we are currently in the fifth week of Lent. With all the statues and images veiled for Passiontide, the hour for Easter is nearly upon us. However, there is still a bit more of this penitential season to go. The Hour for Easter has not yet come.
The phrase, “hour had not yet come.” Has appeared many times in Our Lord’s life, notably at the wedding feast at Cana, (John 2:4) and we heard the same words in the Gospel last Friday (Fourth Week of Lent, John 7:30). In each of these passages, including today’s gospel, people are seeking to know who Jesus is and to manifest some of His glory. Many would have seen the signs and miracles our Lord did, but they wanted to know with whose authority he performed those acts. When they didn’t like what they heard, they wanted to stone Him, or tried to arrest Him in today’s Gospel narrative. Though Christ’s words didn’t make sense to them, they could do no more than listen and grow in anger toward our Lord. Sadly, this is the case today when we present Christ’s teachings to society, they grow angry, hurl abuse at us, mock us for professing our faith.
But they could not harm Him. His hour has not yet come. This shows that God is ultimately in control of even the hostility of others and will only allow such hatred to appear to triumph. Jesus evades capture, He continues to preach in the temple, Christ continues to show how he is supported by God the Father in his time of trial. May we take Christ as our example when we are reviled by others for professing our Catholic Faith.