JESUS TIME

Friday in the 4th Week of Lent
Jn 7:1-2.10.25-30

No one laid a hand upon Jesus because His hour had not yet come. Even Jesus, who is Lord Himself, submitted to life’s timetable.

There are things in life that cannot happen overnight. There are no great changes in life that takes effect in a day. There are no stages in life that must not come through a process. Everything has its time. And everything has its time not only for us but also for Jesus, the Son of God.

Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8 reminds us, “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to sow;
a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to let go;
a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to throw away;
a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.”

There is no mission greater than the mission of Jesus. Yet Jesus did not begin His public ministry until he reached thirty years old. The merits of the passion and death of Jesus were immensely valuable for our salvation. Yet Jesus died only when it was time for Him to die, no sooner, no later. The resurrection of Jesus is infinitely indispensable for our redemption. Yet Jesus laid in the tomb three days before rising to life.

There is wisdom in waiting. There is virtue in waiting patiently. There is grace in waiting with Jesus.

Advent and Lent are seasons of waiting not only for Jesus, but also very much with Jesus. During Advent, we wait with Jesus to be born just as we wait for Him to come. During Lent we wait with Jesus to die and rise again just as we wait for Him accomplish the mystery of our redemption from sin and death.

Let us wait FOR Jesus; let us wait WITH Jesus. And when we are with Jesus, when it is not yet the time, it is not yet the time. For Jesus time is always the right time.