Why Did Jesus Say, “My Hour Has Not Yet Come?” (John 2:3, 7:6, 7:8)

In John 2:3, 7:6, and 7:8 why did Jesus say, “My hour has not yet come”? Jesus followed a divine timeline because His Father ordained every event in His life. This is why we see Him saying He "must" do certain things, why He avoided being killed and arrested at certain times, and even why He avoided becoming King before the triumphal entry. Table of contentsThe Times Jesus Said He Must Do ThingsThe Times Jesus Said, "My Hour Has Not Yet Come"The Times Jesus Avoided Being KilledThe Times Jesus Avoided Being ArrestedThe Times Jesus Said He Told People to Be Silent About Their HealingThe Times Jesus Said He People to Be Silent About His MessiahshipWhen Jesus Said His Hour Had ComeWhen Jesus Presented Himself as KingJesus Fulfilled Daniel's Seventy Weeks Jesus followed a divine timeline because His Father ordained every event in His life. This is why we see Him saying He "must" do certain things, why He avoided being killed and arrested at certain times, and even why He avoided becoming King before the triumphal entry. The Times Jesus Said He Must Do Things When Jesus was left behind at the temple: Luke 2:48 And when his parents saw him, they were astonished. And his mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress.” 49 And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?” Notice Jesus’s use of the word “must.” He didn’t use “should” or “wants to,” but must. There’s urgency about the things He’s doing. Just in Luke’s Gospel, consider the time Jesus said He “must” do other things: Luke 13:33 I must journey today, tomorrow, and the day following Luke 19:5 Jesus told Zacchaeus, “I must stay at your house.” Luke 24:7 I must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again He also said He must fulfill Scripture: Luke 22:37 [What] is written about Me must be accomplished Luke 24:44 All things must be fulfilled which were written…concerning Me.” The Times Jesus Said, "My Hour Has Not Yet Come" This is the wedding at Cana. They ran out of wine… John 2:3 When the wine ran out, [Mary said], “They have no wine.” 4 And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” Mary wanted Jesus to perform a miracle. Jesus was going to perform miracles, so why not now? Because this meant getting the events out of order. This had him performing a miracle before it was time. John 7:6 Jesus said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always here. John 7:8 You go up to the feast. I am not going up to this feast, for my time has not yet fully come.” The Times Jesus Avoided Being Killed Think of the times people tried to seize Jesus, but He always escaped. Jesus returned to Nazareth. The people expected him to perform the same miracles in his hometown that they heard about him performing elsewhere… Luke 4:23 And he said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘“Physician, heal yourself.” What we have heard you did at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.’” When Jesus told the people he wouldn’t be performing miracles in Nazareth, because of their unbelief, they were not happy about it… Luke 4:28 When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. 29 And they rose up and drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff. 30 But passing through their midst, he went away. For a moment, picture what this looked like. They brought Jesus to the top of a hill so they could throw him down. He has a cliff on one side and the crowd on the other. But somehow he was able to maneuver through the people to avoid a premature death. Here are two other examples… John 8:59 So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple. I can’t imagine how angry you must be to want to throw people off a cliff or stone them, but that’s how angry people were with Jesus. They were in the temple, and I can’t imagine there were many places to hide, but Jesus was able to escape. John 10:31 The Jews picked up stones again to stone him…39 Again they sought to arrest him, but he escaped from their hands. Jesus escaped each time for two reasons. First, his time had not yet come to die. He hadn’t reached that obstacle on the course yet. Second, this is not how the Father determined he would die. He would die on a cross, not falling off a cliff or stoned in the temple. Jesus was busy with his ministry when he was warned of a death threat… Luke 13:31 At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.” There are lots of Herods in the Gospels. This is Herod Antipas, the king of Judea, who killed Jesus’s cousin, John the Baptist. In other words, Jesus knew he was more than capable of murder. But Jesus responded with… Luke 13:32 And he said to them, “Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish my course. Not the response you’d expect from someone afraid of dying. That’s because Jesus would continue his course, and he knew nobody could stop him, not even Herod. Jesus wanted Herod to know that. He could have disregarded the counsel and quietly continued, but he wanted Herod to know that he wasn’t afraid of him. So, Jesus told the messengers to return and deliver that message to Herod. It is as though Jesus said, “I am going to continue doing what I’m doing until the third day when I’m resurrected and that’s when my course is complete. Nobody is going to stop me from going to the cross, dying, being buried, and resurrected.” The Times Jesus Avoided Being Arrested John 7:30 So they were seeking to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come. This means his hour to be arrested and crucified. We see the same thing in John 8:20… John 8:20 These words he spoke in the treasury, as he taught in the temple; but no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come. The Times Jesus Said He Told People to Be Silent About Their Healing Jesus cleansed the man of leprosy… Mark 1:43 And Jesus sternly charged him and sent him away at once, 44 and said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, for a proof to them.” This is surprising. Jesus told this man not to tell anyone about the miracle. Why would he do that? One reason is it wasn’t time for the people to recognize that Jesus was the Messiah. He was following the divine timeline set by His Father. Another reason is that large amounts of publicity would hinder Jesus’s mission and divert public attention from his message to his miracles. He wanted to continue teaching uninhibitedly. He needed to be able to move around easily. If people knew about his miracles, He would be swarmed by so many people that he would be unable to enter towns where he could preach, which is exactly what happened because this man disobeyed him: Mark 1:45 But he went out and began to talk freely about it, and to spread the news, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town, but was out in desolate places, and people were coming to him from every quarter. Unfortunately, this man did the opposite of what Jesus asked: he talked to everyone but the priests. Before Jesus cleansed the man he was able to minister in the town. But after the man told everyone, Jesus was forced “out in desolate places” where there were fewer people for him to reach. Why did Jesus perform miracles if they were going to hinder his ministry? First, because he loved people and wanted to help them. But more importantly, they served as signs that he was the Messiah. Jesus raises Jairus’s daughter from the dead: Mark 5:43 And he strictly charged them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat. Jesus raised her from the dead and said to feed her, but not tell anyone. Jesus heals the deaf man and the blind man: Mark 7:36 And Jesus charged them to tell no one. But the more he charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. Mark 8:22 And they came to Bethsaida. And some people brought to him a blind man and begged him to touch him. 23 And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, and when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, “Do you see anything?”  Jesus healed him, but not in the middle of the village because of the commotion it would cause. Jesus entered the village but then brought the blind man out to heal him. Then… Mark 8:26 And he sent him to his home, saying, “Do not even enter the village.” Jesus told him not to return because, more than likely, everyone knew the blind man, and when they learned Jesus had healed him, the crowds would mob him. All of this relates to Jesus keeping a low profile until it was time for Him to be revealed. The Times Jesus Said He People to Be Silent About His Messiahship Luke 9:18 Now it happened that as he was praying alone, the disciples were with him. And he asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?” 19 And they answered, “John the Baptist. But others say, Elijah, and others, that one of the prophets of old has risen.” 20 Then he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” And Peter answered, “The Christ of God.” Lots of people were getting this wrong. People thought Jesus was everyone except the Christ: John the Baptist, Elijah, or one of the other prophets raised from the dead. But Peter got it right. This is one of those times he opened his mouth and hit a home run. Of course, Jesus will say, “Great,