Glory?

Read: John 17:20-26

 

Seventh Sunday of Easter - May 12, 2013

The Rev. Kenneth R. Elkin

 

Our Gospel passage today is from Jesus prayer in John 17, the so-called “high-priestly prayer” of Christ before his arrest and execution.

 In the midst of the prayer, Jesus says,

“...that they may see the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world....”

As if that is not amazing enough, he adds:

“I have even given them the glory which you have given me....”

and he ties it to a specific purpose:

“...Thus the world may come to know that you sent me and that you loved them even as you loved me.”

 

As is usual when we read the gospel of John, we can only take a small bit at a time and let it wrestle with us,

and, we hope, reveal some nuances of its meaning to us.

Glory...do we know what Jesus means when he uses that term?

It may be something quite different from the things that come to mind first.

 

The athlete or team wins the championship, is awarded the medal, perhaps even has a victory parade

and then the season is over and speculation begins almost immediately as to who will win next time.

After years of hard work, the student is graduating with an advanced degree.

There may be polite applause for the entire group receiving that degree, a 10-second walk across a stage, a handshake from an official with whom the student may never have had contact before or ever again... and it is all over.

And the student has four hours to vacate university property.  Thank you and good bye.

 

The President is surrounded with all of the aides and responsibilities and decisions and Secret Service protections, and then January 20 comes along and the term is over, and he walks away a former president.

Oh, they try to hang on a bit with memoirs and libraries and lectures, but it is not the same.

The old glory is gone.

 

There is a Latin phrase to describe this:

sic transit gloria mundi = so passes away the glory of the world.

 

We experience this transitory nature of things in another way as well when we are constantly wishing for the supposed “good old days”.

We conveniently forget what the problems were at that time and remember only the large crowds of people in the pews and Sunday School classes.

The disciples were apparently doing the same thing after the Ascension of Jesus, standing around wishing that the situation were the same as before.

It took a heavenly messenger to get them quit wishing the past back and to move ahead to the new things that God was intending to do with them.

 

But that is no easy thing to do.

When the boss calls in the 15 year employee and announces that he is the latest casualty of corporate “right-sizing”, it is hard to look ahead with joy.

When a new widow returns to an empty house after the family and friends have left fallowing the spouse's funeral, where is glory ahead?

If we are working with the world's idea of fame and glory, none of this makes any sense at all.

But Jesus' glory is of another sort altogether.

 

The disciples are confused about it, however.

The fame and glory of the entry into Jerusalem on the donkey, with the waving palm branches, etc. is already a distant memory.

The disciples had entertained dreams of glory that went on and on...

such as...Who gets to sit at Christ's right hand, the place of power and authority when the Kingdom is revealed?

They squabbled over the perks of power that they anticipated were soon to come their way.

Jesus appears to be turning away from all of that. 

The disciples are confused enough, and then Jesus says that he has already given them “glory” just as the Father has given to him.

This makes no sense at all!

Jesus is not planning a military campaign to drive out the Romans,

to permanently clean up Temple worship, or anything else that they expected to happen.

What “glory” has he given, is he giving, will he give to the disciples?

 

No fire-truck parades in sight, for the disciples or for us who follow in their steps.

It is a peculiar kind of glory, the glory of the cross. 

 

Jesus' glory is to take on the needs of the whole world, and to do so first in prayer, and then in the cross, and in the resurrection.

 

So once we have grasped a bit of what Jesus means by his glory, what then will it mean for us to participate in that glory?

Jesus says that he has shared it with us; so what has he shared?

One thing is the opportunity for conversation with the Father, in prayer.

Even as Jesus and the Father are united in prayer, so are we united with the Father when we follow Jesus' model.

So let's take seriously the task of naming those in special need in our daily prayers.

Take that bulletin home and refer to the list of names.

Use the alphabetical list of names of members and friends to methodically name everyone in the congregation over a period of many weeks.

Call Larue and ask to be a part of the Prayer Chain and thus to name the difficult situations in prayer.

The cost for all of these things is zero in dollars and cents;

the cost is modest in time;

the cost is profound in our attitude toward one another and toward God.

It is glory written very differently.

 

And then we move on to the glory of the cross.

The deeper understanding of glory involves faithfulness to the Gospel despite the setbacks that would otherwise undermine it.

 

There was a banker, a deep follower of Christ, working in the loan department.

He became aware of a systematic, though quiet and unwritten policy of denying loans to certain groups of people.

Of course it is completely against the law, but just try to prove that it was happening.

He came up with the figures, and made a presentation to the management, urging changes in policy.

Within days, he was fired. They cited re-organization, but he knew better.

It was many months before he found another and lesser position.

An outsider might say, “You're really having bad luck these days.”

But Jesus might say, “This is your hour to share in my glory, the glory of the cross.”

Jesus' glory is not much about grabbing for oneself, and more about giving away oneself.

 

Gardener Taylor writes that his most precious memory of his mother is of seeing her kneel in prayer at her bedside and hearing her name him in her prayers.

And Jesus prayed earnestly for his disciples, for their unity with the will of the Father, for their life together.  Glory.

 

There was a worship service taking place where there was a service dog at the feet of a church member.

The big golden retriever was paying attention as the congregation began to share the peace, and the dog caught the spirit of the moment.

Fixing her forepaws on the lap of her charge, she gave a gentle kiss.

Then, sensing the wistful admiration of a person behind them, the dog continued her climb, stretched over her partner's shoulder, and added a kiss to that person behind them.

Glory that includes the rest of creation!

 

And then the harder case:

Mr. Kaul writes of his parent incapacitated by a stroke, and despite great efforts, unable to regain much function, and lingering five years before death.

He says: “During those years I found it hard to pray?

For what should I pray? ...that my parent be kept alive?   ...for a miracle?

Or, and this question tore at my heart,” said Mr. Kaul. “Should I ask God to please let her die so that she could be at peace in her heavenly home?

Then one evening I reread this prayer of Jesus.

As I was reading, I was hearing Jesus praying for his disciples, for the church, for me, even for my parent.

The Son of God himself praying for us!

Suddenly I realized that my parent was in good hands in spite of my confusion.”

The glory of the cross is active when we  continue to visit even when the condition of the person we are visiting is falling apart.  Others may run away.

 

The glory of the cross is active when we continue to invite, even when the response is not visible to us.

“Come and see Jesus,” Philip says to Nathaniel [John 1], and we are bid to give that same invitation in as many ways as we can invent.

Some may respond at once; some may respond sometime later, others not at all.

The results are not up to us, just the inviting.

The Spirit will figure out the right time to catch hold of the person when we have done the preparatory work that he desires us to have done.

Come, join in mealtime prayer, with guests at your home, or in a restaurant.

Invite that guest to the church at worship instead of sleeping in on Sunday morning.

Be ready to offer hospitality to a guest in whatever way is needed, remembering the story of the three visitors to Abraham. [Genesis 18]

And we could continue to spin out the implications of this level of glory.

 

And finally, Jesus' kind of glory  involves a victory that we cannot earn or deserve, but only receive as a gift.

The promise of Jesus' resurrection, his glory, came each of us in Holy Baptism. 

 

Let's think about the text that we sing as the next hymn.

Thine is the glory, risen, conquering Son.

To be “conquering” implies that there is a battle, a great struggle.

It is not an easy time for Jesus, or for us!

 

Endless is the victory

        Thou o'er death hath won!

The campaign is completely decided.

The last and most powerful enemy is vanquished.

 

Death hath lost its sting.

Echoing St. Paul, we confidently sing that pain and loss and death do not get the last word.

Make us more than conquerors,

Bring us safe through Jordan....

It is not a cheap and easy request that we make of Jesus, but it is one which he honors gladly

 

Think about this carefully:

we have been given glory, in Jesus' prayer for us;

we are receiving glory in what we say and do in the name of Jesus in this assembly and in our daily activities of prayer and invitation in the name of Christ;

we will finally receive glory in the fullness of the  heavenly conversation.

What a wonder, what a deep wonder it is, given to us because

Christ is risen.  He is risen indeed.  Amen.