John 17: 1-11
To set our reading of John chapter 17 in context. Jesus is still with his disciples on what we have to come call Maundy Thursday, and this is the final part of his discourse. It consists of a long prayer, sometimes called the High Priestly prayer of Jesus. Some however have referred to it as a Priestly Consecration Prayer, a prayer offered by the Priest over a sacrifice, much as we now do in celebrating the Eucharist.
Alleluia! King eternal,
thee the Lord of lords we own;
Alleluia! born of Mary,
earth thy footstool,
heaven thy throne.
Thou within the veil hast entered,
robed in flesh, our great High Priest.
Thou on earth both Priest and Victim
in the Eucharistic Feast.
The prayer has three foci….
a) Jesus prays for his own
mission.
b) he prays for his immediate
disciples, who are with him as he prays.
c) he prays for all those who
in later times will become his disciples.
And the disciples get to
listen in on Jesus’ prayer – which by extension we also get to listen into.
And that’s one of the first
thing we need to heed.
In there is one thing plain
as a pike staff in the Gospels is that Jesus prayed.
We can, and rightly I would say,
should discuss the place of prayer, the efficacy of prayer. Does prayer change
God’s mind – well Scripture seems to attest to this. And what about unanswered
prayer, where does that fit into the scheme of things.
And we should, again I would
argue, explore, and develop a whole range of ways of engaging in prayer.
If Jesus is the model to
follow – then however much of a mystery it may remain, pray we must, pray we
should, praying at all times.
It was William Temple,
Archbishop of Canterbury who once said, “When I pray, coincidences happen, and
when I don’t, they don’t.”
Jesus begins by praying for the success of his mission. He prays that, through his passion, death, and resurrection, he may find glory. In John’s gospel Jesus’ glory is witnessed through his passion and of his dying on the cross. Faithful unto death, Jesus is vindicated through his resurrection and then union with the Father, supremely spoken of in the Feast of the Ascension celebrated last Thursday.
This glory however is not for himself alone
but to serve a greater purpose - “Father, the
hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.
The word glory is not used
much in common parlance today. However, it is all over the Scriptures and features
in hundreds of hymns and worship songs and in our liturgies.
Therefore, I would suggest it
is a word we would do well to reflect upon if we are to engage in any
meaningful way with our Scriptures.
Now you can easily massively
nerd out on the word glory and its cognates, glorify, glorious, glorification,
etc.
If you really want to take
that journey and would like a companion, then I would more than happy to join
you in that adventure. *
Obviously, we can’t go down that
route today but let me give you a few pointers that I hope will whet your
appetite to discover more.
In Hebrew glory means ‘heavy’
– spelt KAVOD.
It is used in this very
literal sense on several occasions and notably of Eglon king of Moab who was
assassinated by the left-handed Ehud. You will find his story in Judges 3.
Eglon we are told, was kavod, kavod, a very heavy man.
The meaning of glory, kavod
and heavy develops and becomes a metaphor that leads directly to something or
someone of importance.
Let me take you back to the
coronation of King Charles111.
The weight of office as a
metaphor is common enough.
In Biblical terms this
references back to a key aspect of humans celebrated in Psalm 8.
Lord, our Lord,
how
majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory
in
the heavens.
When I consider your heavens,
the
work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which
you have set in place,
what is mankind that you are mindful
of them,
human
beings that you care for them?
You have made them a little lower than the angels
and
crowned them with glory and honour.
You made them rulers over the
works of your hands;
you
put everything under their feet:
And this
pushes us back to the creation narrative where humans are called images of God
– that is their vocation. To be co-regents with God, ruling and having dominion
over all of creation.
“The Glory of God is Man Fully
Alive” – said Saint Irenaeus, one of the Early Church Fathers born during the
first half of the 2nd century.
By
fulfilling this vocation is how humans are to bring glory to God. Which brings
in another aspect of this word that is probably more familiar to our modern
ears.
That of
bringing honour, prestige, a reputation, a worthy name.
I would imagine you would want to extol his name, his office, his
rule, and authority. You might want to sing him praises, bring him gifts and
certainly to tell others of how wonderful he is. You may seek to live your life
serving him in whatever way you could. He would be your best thought throughout
each and every day – in short, you would be worshipping him – giving him worth,
bringing him glory.
In addition to all this imagine that King Charles 111 has given
you a vocation to be his image bearer. So that you also carry the weight – the
heaviness – the glory of King Charles 111. You carry this out into the world as
his ambassador. You are to invite everyone and everything to recognise the
wonder that is King Charles 111 – to glorify him.
Now – let
the image of King Charles slip away and exchange it for King Jesus – and then allow
the images I have just spoken about to develop to a whole new level.
Thus, Paul writes, in 1
Corinthians 10:31 ‘So, whether you eat or drink or
whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.’
Whatever you do – everything you
do – every thought, action, every word – everything – everything – everything
done to the praise and glory of God revealed to us through King Jesus.
“Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your
Son may glorify you.
I have brought you glory on earth by
finishing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify
me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world
began.
Pastor
Rick Warren asks; “what is the glory of God? - he answers… It is who God is. It
is the essence of His nature; the weight of His importance; the radiance of His
splendour; the demonstration of His power; the atmosphere of His presence. “
'To
God be the glory great things he has done….'
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