Lifted to glory

‘Father! You have given them to me, and I want them to be with me where I am, so that they may see my glory, the glory you gave me; for you loved me before the world was made. Righteous Father! The world does not know you, but I know you, and these know that you sent me. I made you known to them, and I will continue to do so, in order that the love you have for me may be in them, and so that I also may be in them.’ (verses 24-26)

Read John 17:20-26

Jesus’ love and concern for his disciples is so clear in this prayer. He prays urgently, almost fiercely, to his father, asking that his followers may see his glory. For they are about to see and experience much that will not seem to have any glory at all.

They will see him praying in agony in a garden-for a little while, before they drop off to sleep. They will see him betrayed and arrested and taken off to trial-at least until they lose their nerve and run away. They will hear that he is to be crucified—that most horrible of deaths; they may have seen it from a distance.

Oh no, not much glory at all.

But John makes it clear that all this is part of Jesus’ glory. He uses the image of Jesus being enthroned as he is lifted on his cross. Suffering and dying are part of Jesus’ glory in John’s gospel. For there is no glory at all without the cross. But with it we are God’s righteous people, his new creation, his sons and daughters.

Jesus’ prayer was answered. We have seen his glory.

Father, I thank you for showing me your Son in all his glory. Amen.

by Robert Turnbull, in ‘Renewed Hope for each Day’ (LCA, Openbook, 2000)

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