Jesus' family and time - 4th week lent friday

There are two reasons why things did not turn out the way people would want things to turn out in Jesus.

First, his family wanted Jesus to go to Jerusalem for the feast of booths. It was a big feast and people from all over the world would come to worship in Jerusalem.  His family must have thought that this was an opportune time to make Jesus popular, to show off to the crowd this miracle worker and become a success.  But Jesus did not go.  Most of us know from experience that our families may have the best intention for us, no doubt about that, but most often they would miss the mark when it comes to discerning our vocation, our mission, the design of God for each one of us. Jesus’ family too never fully understood the vocation and mission of Jesus.  They were probably also grappling, trying to understand.  That is why Jesus had to struggle too with his family and with what they thought was appropriate for him.

Second, the people wanted to arrest Jesus and lay their hands on him but as the narrative says, “no one did for his hour has not yet come.”  Probably you are familiar with the two Greek words for time – Chronos and Kairos. Chronos is the time in our watches. We started mass at 6:15. That is chronos.  But Kairos is different.  It is God’s time.  His hour has not yet come.  It was not yet God’s will that Jesus would be apprehended and be handed to death.  Not yet.  Yes, we must still finish this mass on time and start our classes on time, chronos. But it is also good to be aware that there is also another way of keeping time in our lives, to be conscious of God’s time, to be conscious of God’s perfect timing in our lives, to be conscious of God’s plan, when he makes all things beautiful in his time.  Things may not always happen on time, for things can happen only in God’s time.