“After saying all these things, Jesus looked up to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son so he can give glory back to you.” John 17:1 NLT
In our walk through the passion narrative in the Gospel of John we have now come to the “High Priestly prayer of Jesus” in John 17. As the Great High Priest of the church Jesus first prays that the Father would “glorify” him.
Jesus asks God to:
doxazō-to honour, do honour to, hold in honour to make glorious, adorn with lustre, clothe with splendoura) to impart glory to something, render it excellent b) to make renowned, render illustrious.
Did God answer this prayer? If He did the ramifications for us are enormous, because it means Jesus’ glorification started with crucifixion.
If we accept that Jesus was glorified through crucifixion then our obvious question is: “Does all glorification come through crucifixion in some form?”
Now the answer to that meditation sure informs our Christianity. Maybe that understanding was the reason behind the disciples’ rejoicing every time they got beaten. If instead of viewing trials as trouble they viewed them as the pathway to glory well then why not rejoice?
Chew on these awhile and let me know your thoughts!
“Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was. We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. ” Romans 6: 5-7 NLT
“So then, since Christ suffered physical pain, you must arm yourselves with the same attitude he had, and be ready to suffer, too. For if you have suffered physically for Christ, you have finished with sin.” I Pet. 4:1 NLT
Reinventing the We'll 