The text this morning is from the Gospel according to John, the 17th chapter:
When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. “I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.Thus far the text.
My dear friends in Christ,
He is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia! And truly, the glorification of the Son has already come, even as His body laid tortured upon the cross. In that moment, the Lord was seen at His most glorious, for indeed there is no greater love than He, the Lord, who would lay down His life for you, His friends. But, as you know, the story, and even I should say, the history of our Lord’s salvation doesn’t end there. It continues in the resurrection, and it continues in the ascension.
Now, we certainly can say that the cross didn’t look glorious. The cross was brutal and ugly. Isaiah tells us that, in that moment, there was nothing in His appearance that would draw men to Him. I think that it’s more even that the world would be repulsed by His grisly death. Though His death was certainly for us, and the result of that death, the forgiveness of the sins of the world, was glorious, it looked like anything but.
When think of the glory of Jesus, we would rather think of the resurrection. His resurrected body was changed. Though it bore the marks of the crucifixion, certainly His body had been changed to one that was incorruptible, never to die again, never to suffer again. That sounds glorious to me. But, think about what Jesus said to Mary as she grasped His feet: “Do not cling to Me, for I have not ascended to the Father.” So, His glory in the resurrection can’t really be apprehended.
So, His glory was on the cross, but we can’t have seen it then. His glory was there in the resurrection, but we cannot hold it there. His glory, He said would be when He ascended to the right hand of His Father in heaven. But, what good does that do us? What good does the ascension do us? We can’t see the glory. We can’t grasp the glory. We don’t feel the glory.
What is glory? It’s used a few different ways in the Scripture. It could be the brightness of the divine nature in Christ. It could be a cloud. It could be the eternal reward promised. It could be knowledge of God. Or, and I think that this is the most likely thing, it could be that thing, whatever it is, that is said to fill the entire temple. When the glory of God filled the tabernacle, Moses wasn’t even able to enter it. It’s clearly some type of substance, since Moses and so many priests and prophets witnessed it, but we don’t know what it is.
What we do know is that when the glory of the Lord appears, then He speaks. The glory of the Lord fills the temple, and then He speaks to His prophets or priests. So, when Jesus prays to His Father, and asks the Father to glorify Him, that He may glorify the Father, we may have a hard time picturing this, but I believe Jesus is showing us that the glory of God is His presence itself. And truly, Jesus is always God, from before He took to Himself human flesh, to His infancy, through His life, in His death, and certainly now in His resurrection. Yet, Jesus is asking His Father to glorify Him that He may be glorified, and it seems that this is somehow tied to the idea that the Trinity is God, present with each other, for the purpose of speaking and teaching those who are His people.
Let me say this another way: when Jesus is glorified with the Father, the name of Christ is presented to the entire world. And when one believes in Jesus, they will also believe in the Father and in the Holy Spirit. And when one then believe in this Holy Trinity, the name of God is written upon their hearts and their brows to mark them as ones redeemed. They are the Lord’s. They are His forever.
And see what Jesus says here: things like, “They have kept your word (teaching the faith),” “I have given them the words you gave me (teaching the faith),” “they have come to know in truth… (teaching the faith),” “they believed in you (the result of teaching the faith). Jesus makes clear that in His glorification, the knowledge and fear of God is passed to those who would follow in His suffering and death. Pretty cool, right?
But, wait. So, Jesus is glorified, but where is He? Where do we see it? And if His voice is to come out of the glory, where is it? Well, look around. What fills this place? His Word. His Word is glory. It’s literally everything we do here. From the songs, to the prayers, from the liturgy to the sermon, from the readings to the sermon, from Baptism to the Lord’s Supper. The glory of the Lord surrounds us in this place. And His voice, it is even the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, the Teacher, who instructs us in all of His works and all of His ways. You are in the presence of God in this place.
Yet, we who are sinful are afforded a graciousness that none of the prophets or priests of old were allowed. When the glory of the Lord descended on the tabernacle and the temple, it was almost as if it were too much to bear. They were shoved out of the way as the glory filled everything. And we should expect the same, right? Certainly Moses and Ezekiel, Aaron and Solomon, were much more worthy to experience the glory of God. We’re sinners, dirty, rotten, and wicked. By our works, by our flesh, we are unrighteous and should never expect to stand before the Lord our Maker.
Yet, when Christ appeared in this world in the flesh, by His life, death, and resurrection, He opened for you the door to righteousness for His name’s sake. By Him placing His name upon us, by claiming you as His own, even through the waters of Holy Baptism, the Lord allows you to experience the full weight of His glory in this place. You are not struck down or destroyed, but lifted up and built up into the Body of Christ, His Church.
What does all that have to do with His ascension? All of this is happening to us, Baptism, hearing the Word, receiving the Supper, all of it is happening by the work of the Holy Spirit, who is constantly directing our eyes and ears and hearts to faith in Christ. And if it were not for the ascension, this wouldn’t happen. After all, Jesus has told us that when He leaves us, which is to say, when He leaves our sight, He will send the Holy Spirit, the Advocate, the Comforter, to teach us all things. And through the power of the Spirit, You are made one in Christ.
After all, we each share His name. We each have that name placed upon us as He washes us clean from our sin. We share in the one Body of Christ. We are all together the Church, no one independent, no one standing alone, no one ashamed before the Lord, for all of our sins are forgiven and we are welcomed into everlasting life with Him.
This is good news, my friends, for to be in this place means that you are Christ’s. And if you are Christ’s, then we share one Father, whose love and affection for you is beyond compare, even to the point of sending His Son to die for you, to make you the brothers and sisters of Jesus. And if you belong to Jesus in that way, then you also share in His overcoming of the world. He has overpowered the world in its temptations, in its sin, in its desire to see you dead and gone. He has overpowered it by His death and resurrection, and so, while you are in the world, you are not of it, just as Christ is not of it. You are now of God, not of the world. You share in Christ, in His righteousness, not in the depravity of life’s temptations.
You belong in the glory of God. Not that you are the glory of God, but that in His delight over you, He welcomes you into His presence. This presence doesn’t kill you or prevent you from hearing Him, but allows you learn from Him, be comforted by Him, be protected by Him, for what can overcome the Lord?
By the cross, by the resurrection, by the ascension of Jesus into heaven, He is glorified and He welcomes you to witness His glory, for you have His name written upon you forever. Be comforted in this place, for even as He ascended, He shall come again, and His glory will dwell with man forever. For, He is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia! In Jesus’ name, amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord! Amen.
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