John 12:27

“Now my soul is greatly distressed. And what should I say? ‘Father, deliver me ¹  from this hour’? ²  No, but for this very reason I have come to this hour. ³ 

Ps 69:1-3; Ps 88:3; Isa 38:15; Isa 53:3; Mt 26:38,39,42; Mt 26:53,54; Mr 14:33-36; Lu 12:49,50; Lu 22:44,53; Lu 22:53; Joh 11:33-35; Joh 11:41; Joh 13:21; Joh 18:37; 1Ti 1:15; Heb 2:14; Heb 5:7; Heb 10:5-9

¹ tn Or “save me.”

² tn Or “this occasion.”

sn Father, deliver me from this hour. It is now clear that Jesus’ hour has come – the hour of his return to the Father through crucifixion, death, resurrection, and ascension (see 12:23). This will be reiterated in 13:1 and 17:1. Jesus states (employing words similar to those of Ps 6:4) that his soul is troubled. What shall his response to his imminent death be? A prayer to the Father to deliver him from that hour? No, because it is on account of this very hour that Jesus has come. His sacrificial death has always remained the primary purpose of his mission into the world. Now, faced with the completion of that mission, shall he ask the Father to spare him from it? The expected answer is no.

³ tn Or “this occasion.”