The Secret of One Hour
Imagine knowing you were only going to live 33 years on earth and your main purpose was for one hour.
How would this change the way you live?
What happens if we give our attention to that hour?
Would an entire life make sense in 60 minutes?
I will share a practice for those who will be patient with their own life.
First a story, which sets the context to serve us on our journey.
You may not have heard parts of the story of Jesus like this before, someone who knew his purpose for coming to earth was for one hour.
“This hour is the reason I came.”
Before Jesus’ “secret” purpose starts, as the scriptures “seem” to not tell you what he was doing before 30 years old, we find him at a wedding where his mother asks him to do something about the wine that ran out during the celebration.
He responds to his mom: “Woman, why do you involve me? My hour has not yet come.”
His tone is playful, yet focused.
His mom then says to the servants: “Do whatever he tells you.”
Jesus tells the servants to fill some jugs with water before saying:
“Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.”
Ah, the drawing out of the secret begins! What is he drawing out of us?
The servants do as he says and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had now turned into wine. The master did not realize where it had come from, but he tasted it. However, the servants who had drawn the water knew the secret.
The best wine had been saved for last and this was the first secret that began unveiling the essence of God.
As we move closer to The Secret Hour we are taken to another scene where Jesus’ brothers tell him to go to his students in order to reveal to them the works he is doing. His brothers say:
“Do this because no one who wants to be known publicly acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world.”
In a world that does things publicly to make a name for themselves, you’d think this would make sense to Jesus. It doesn’t. Things are not as they “seem.” His brothers didn’t actually believe him, so what good would the public works be? Would the brothers finally believe if others did first, therefore, not really believing in and of themselves?
He responds:
“Although your time is always at hand, my hour has not yet come.”
Our time is always at hand.
But we must be able to see in secret to know what is hidden in plain sight.
“Let your service be done in secret which reveals you know Our Father, who sees in secret, and freely gives without need of recognition. Then you will know Reality instead of shadows, as you realize all things are yours and freely given by God.” - (Matt 6:4, 1 Cor 3:21)
If we need to be recognized we cannot recognize God.
Re-cognize means: To return to perceiving, knowing, and becoming aware of.
Now we come to THE HOUR.
Some people who had heard about the signs Jesus was doing wanted to come see him.
Jesus says no, “for now my hour has come.”
Why is Jesus turning away people who want to see him?
He isn’t, they just think he is.
He knows they love the signs, the appearances, including his own appearance, and not the thing itself.
Jesus then speaks of his impending death and tells them a secret that if you want to find the secret of your life you will lose the life you think you have, which isn’t really life at all. Essentially, you will lose life based on appearances, on how things seem, rather than how things are.
He then says, “If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, my servant will be as well.”
Do you now see the secret is not based on physical locations or appearances?
We are invited to be where he actually is to realize where we actually are.
It is at this point his soul is troubled, as ours might be, and he wonders if God should save him from this hour, yet recognizes it was for this hour he has come.
“Now my soul is troubled, what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your essence.”
“Father, glorify your essence.”
He is tearing at the seam the way things seem, so we can see the secret of what was inside all along.
As he says this, those standing near him hear a voice from heaven:
“I have glorified my essence and I will glorify it again.”
We now might be able to hear why our time is always at hand, as it has always been with God.
Yet some in the crowd heard that voice thinking it had thundered, while others thought an angel was speaking. The former were still stuck hearing in earth time a voice veiled in thunder, while the latter were moving closer to the point, yet they all interpreted the voice as speaking to Jesus.
He responds: “The voice was not for my benefit but yours.”
“Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And when I am lifted up from the earth I will draw all people to Myself.”
Ah, the drawing out of the water the Voice misinterpreted as thunder and angels! What is he drawing out of us? What is he turning into wine? Can you taste it?
Jesus is then crucified at “the place of the skull.” The place in our own skulls where we were prevented from recognizing. He is crucifying all the ways we thought we knew.
The soldiers who crucified Jesus then took his garments and divided them into four parts, but his tunic was “seamless” and they did not want to tear it, so they cast lots on who would get to keep it.
However, what Jesus was actually clothed in, was still seamless, irrespective of clothing or human flesh. His now torn flesh was revealing the secret. He was opening us to the heart of God which is far better than the way things “seem”, as he was tearing the veil over our own temples and minds that blinded us to Reality. He was tearing the veils that clothed us in a world that loves clothes and appearances.
“That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air and how they are provided for, are you not more precious than them?” - Jesus
Then the soldiers gave Jesus sour wine, symbolizing the warped and sour misunderstanding of God and human life, and once he drank it he said: “It is finished.” The Hour was complete. He bowed His head and gave up his spirit, revealing we must do the same. The Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak, yet now the secret was revealed.
This is the only Way to live a seamless life both now in this body and forever after it. It is the only Way to draw the water out of our lives to become the best wine.
To become servants of the secret hour.
Now Jesus was lifted up, forever seated where he always was, is, and will be, forever drawing all to become what we really are and to know who God really is.
The One who gives of his being freely without recognition, even if we beat that flesh until it is unrecognizable, will cause all to recognize.
And it only took one hour to reveal the heart of eternity.
If we focus on that hour, to watch and to pray through it rather than sleep, we will watch time disappear as the eternal heart is made known. The One who suffered for a short time was redeeming all time. We now can participate in the revealing.
The wine has not run out.
The sour wine has become the best.
Your hour has come and is now here.
Love is all that is left... and it never leaves.
-PH
Easter 2025
“Love is the fulfillment of everything. Besides, you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed, I Am has always been here showing us the Way.” - Romans 13:10-11
The Practice:
Meditate on these words of Jesus:
“I came from our Father into this world, and now I am leaving this world and returning to the Father.”
“Behold I am with you, always.”
Spend one hour meditating on the impact of this post or read John 12:2 through 19:42. As the scenes unfold, remember the joy, celebration, and the absolute goodness of God infiltrating the sorrows of this world to reveal how death and sorrow is swallowed up in Life. The One who identifies with our suffering is leading us to glory, the essence of who God really is and who we really are. This resurrection is upon us. Let us watch and pray for one hour to know our time is at hand and forever in His.