And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.
Jesus is speaking just days before his crucifixion. "Son of Man" is his favorite title for himself, pointing to both his humanity and his role as the promised rescuer from Daniel's vision. When he says "the hour has come," he means the pivotal moment in all of history—his death and resurrection. "Glorified" sounds like spotlights and applause, but Jesus is talking about being lifted up on a cross, where he'll look utterly defeated yet actually be winning the greatest victory ever won.
Jesus, you walked toward the cross knowing it looked like shame yet calling it glory. When my own crosses feel too heavy or humiliating, teach me to see what you see. Help me trust that the places I feel most broken might be where you're most at work. Amen.
Picture a dimly lit upper room hours before Passover. Friends chatter about plans while Jesus sits quietly, knowing tomorrow he'll be nailed naked to wood. The word "glorified" must have sounded absurd in that moment—like calling a car wreck a parade. Yet Jesus sees beauty in what we call shame, power in what looks like defeat. He redefines glory not as being adored but as giving everything away, even his last breath. You probably won't face crucifixion, but you will face smaller deaths—the dream that dies quietly, the reputation you can't defend, the relationship you can't fix. In those moments when your life looks anything but glorious, Jesus whispers that this might be the exact place where something deeper and truer is being born in you. The cross looked like the end; it turned out to be the hinge of everything. What looks like your undoing might be where you finally discover who you really are.
What did Jesus mean by 'the hour has come' and why is this moment so pivotal?
When has something that looked like failure or defeat in your life later revealed deeper purpose?
How does Jesus' definition of 'glory' challenge our culture's ideas of success and recognition?
Who in your life needs to hear that their darkest moment might actually be sacred ground?
What are you clinging to that you might need to surrender, trusting that loss could lead to unexpected life?
And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.
Isaiah 49:6
But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
John 4:23
(But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)
John 7:39
Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.
John 13:1
Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come.
John 2:4
And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
John 17:5
These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:
John 17:1
But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:
1 Peter 2:9
And Jesus answered them, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified and exalted.
AMP
And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.
ESV
And Jesus answered them, saying, 'The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.
NASB
Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.
NIV
But Jesus answered them, saying, “The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified.
NKJV
Jesus replied, “Now the time has come for the Son of Man to enter into his glory.
NLT
Jesus answered, "Time's up. The time has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.
MSG