John 13:1

It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

From Background Notes [BN] for March 24^th/25^th written by Pastor Bob Brown:

The whole Gospel of John is painted against the landscape of "In the beginning was the Word" (1:1) where God and the Word lived in perfect harmony of purpose and fellowship...

The earthly setting was the dramatic stage for enacting the divine intention to save the world. And Jesus had at last arrived at the "hour,” the hora, for that to take place. What sort of "hour" was this, this moment of urgency?

 1. It was the hour when God would glorify Jesus and, in turn, Jesus would display God's glory through the Cross and its salvation for the world (12:24-26).

 2. It was the hour of judgment for the world and defeat for the Evil One when Jesus through the Cross would triumph over them (12:31-32).

3. It was the hour for Jesus to finally return to the Father's heavenly throne (17:5).

We will examine one defining scene which was part of this "hour" of divine urgency. John's version of this story is unique in numerous ways, and some readers have difficulty reconciling it with the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke). Still, enough similarity exists to confidently say that they refer to the same event, only seen through different eyes. After all, how could such an important "hour" in the life of Jesus be so radically altered by a writer who was, no doubt, an eyewitness to what happened there?   [BN,2]

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