The Hour

Jesus warns two of the churches in Asia about the “hour” that is coming (Sardis, Revelation 3:3; Philadelphia, 3:10). In John’s gospel, Jesus talks about the “hour” with reference to the hour of the cross, which is also the hour of glory. Now, Jesus speaks of the “hour” of testing and temptation that is about to come on the entire oikoumene , the Greco-ROman world. What the cross was, so is the coming trial: An hour of testing for the body of Jesus that is also an hour of Jesus’ glorification. The church shares in Jesus’ sufferings; they share His “hour.”

Those references to the hour raise the suspicion that the letters to the churches might be tracking the Passion Narrative. There are other indications: Jesus warns the church at Sardis to stay alert, as He warned the disciples in Gethsemane. The church at Laodicea loos a lot like the fleeing disciples in the gospel story.

Whether the whole sequence of messages tracks the Passion Narrative I cannot say at this point. But the last few evoke those scenes in Gethsemane and at Golgotha, reinforcing the reality of the church’s participation in the sufferings and glory of Jesus.