Thinking about Glory

When he had gone out.

Who?

When who had gone out?

We sort of start this morning’s gospel reading rather abruptly and John just jumps right in.

When he had gone out?

When Judas had gone out.

After Jesus said he was troubled in spirit and named his own betrayal.

After the disciples had wondered who it was who would betray Jesus.

After Jesus gave him the bread and after Satan entered into the heart of Judas Iscariot, son of Simon Iscariot.

After he told Judas to do quickly what it was he was going to do.

And after Judas left and when he had gone out, Jesus spoke.

Jesus spoke about his glorification.

His what?

His glorification.

And whatever does that mean?

Glorification in this sense is the fulfillment of Christ’s mission as the Son of Man, given to him by God the Father.

Very early in John we are told of Christ’s very being,

He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.

That is from the first chapter of John.

Today’s reading is from the 13th chapter.

And later on, in John’s 17th chapter where Christ will ask of God,

Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all people, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they may know you… I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do. So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed.

So now that that’s clear, let’s continue.

Well, actually, I’m not particularly sure that any of this is clear.

We keep using that word, glorify, what exactly are we talking about.

Obviously it means some sort of change, Jesus is talking about his coming glorification so something’s going on.

And John keeps referencing Jesus’ references to glorification, so it’s got to be important, but what is it?

Well, maybe we see a bit of what that glorification is in Jesus’ works on earth.

Maybe we begin to understand that the whole turning water in wine thing wasn’t just a thing to keep the wedding guests happy, but a true miracle brought about because of Jesus glorification through God.

Or let us look at the story of Lazarus.

Did Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead because he missed his friend?

That he wished Martha’s grief to subside, Mary’s tears to fall away?

Or was this act evidence of his glorification through God?

I think we can say that it is.

That Jesus is glorified through God so he can perform miracles with wine; he can conquer death.

See that?

Jesus is glorified through God so he perform the works he did.

And that is glorification!

Wait, that’s what?

I’m describing what Jesus can do through glorification, but what, exactly, is glorification?

Did he have to pass some sort of written test?

Is there some sort of licensing process he had to go through so that get glorified?

The acts he performed are not a description of how he is able to perform them.

A description of the affects of glorification are not a definition.

So what exactly is glorification?

Okay.

Let’s try this again.

‘Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me… “Where I am going, you cannot come.”

Okay.

So Jesus is going somewhere?

And he’s going somewhere because he’s been glorified.

Things are starting to come together.

Jesus was with the Father and Jesus was the Word.

He was there from the beginning of time and before.

He was eternal, as ancient as the dream God holds for God’s creation and he is now sitting down for a meal with his disciples, one of whom will betray him.

He is talking about glorification because Christ is glorified in God, there’s that word again, he is glorified in God, or, as it turns out, Jesus is of God.

Jesus is talking about glorification in terms of reunification with God the Father.

This is not a discussion of reunion as in, God is going to the airport to pick up his son after a long trip.

No, this is reunification, where Jesus takes on his original and eternal role as one third of the Trinity.

Jesus is in the father and the father is in Jesus and we are to look at those acts and deeds mentioned earlier as evidence of that fact.

That though those works do not define what glorification is exactly, they are evidence that Christ is indeed glorified by God.

And now, on this night of the Last Supper, on this night of his betrayal, Christ begins preparing his disciples for his death, resurrection, ascension so that they might know what is in store for them.

And yet, if that is just what glorification is about, then why is it so important?

It is important in and of itself, Christ’s ministry was not just an earthly sojourn, a time spent sunning himself on the shores of Galilee.

No.

Jesus’ ministry was important in and of itself.

We were visited by God who gave himself for us, a perfect sacrifice for the whole world.

Along with that, as if there needed to be more than that, people were impacted in many great and beautiful ways.

Lazarus rose.

The blind began to see.

The woman at the well began to preach the gospel of love.

And still there is more.

Because God wants our glorification as well.

Again, Jesus’ visit was not just a one and done thing.

It was intentional.

It was performed with care and with cause, because the point of this, the point of all of this is that we are to expect the return of Christ at some point with the knowledge, through the knowledge given to us by Jesus himself, that we too are to be glorified with God.

We too are to become one with the Father.

Back to John, chapter 17 where Jesus said, “The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one … so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me”

And in the words of Frank Crouch, Dean of the Moravian Theological Seminary in Bethlehem, PA: “As was true for Christ is true for us. We cannot fully show the glory until we have completed the work God has sent us to do. Or, more positively, we show the glory as we complete that work.”

And at the end of this morning’s gospel is that famous line, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

If I could print this up on t-shirts for all of us I would, for it is the route to our own glorification.

Love one another

It is the three word instruction manual telling us of the work we have to do.

And it is just so easy to do.

Love each other.

Yes, I know the neighbor won’t keep their dog from barking at 5 am but love them anyway.

Yes, I know there are a million reasons why we might disagree with each other, but does any one of those reasons rise above this commandment to love one another?

And sometimes it is hard to love, seemingly impossible to love, but loving each other is the work we have to do if we are to complete that work.

Because through the difficulty, overcoming the hardness of the action, if we love each other, we are creating relationships and bonds that will bring about the kingdom Christ promises all of us.

Love each other and in that love we will find eventually the glory of God.