May I speak in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
The theme of my sermon today is ‘glory’. In our earthly life we use the word ‘glorious’ to describe that which we have seen that we think of as uplifting, joyous and magnificent. It is often used to reflect observations made of the natural world; ‘glorious weather, without a cloud in the sky, full of sunshine’. In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus tells his disciples that the lilies in the field are clothed in a glory that surpasses even the glory of King Solomon. There is also the glory to be found in beautiful objects, like the stunning Cartier jewellery and watch collection recently exhibited at the Victoria and Albert Museum.
When we come to the battlefield, there can be found military glory. We talk of a glorious victory over the enemy, made possible by the heroism of the armed forces. It is in this definition of glory that we come a bit closer to what is meant by ‘glory’ in today’s Gospel reading. A bit closer because by his death on the Cross Jesus has defeated Satan in removing the power of death over us by offering us eternal life. As we sing in our hymn ‘Abide with me’: ‘where is death’s sting, where grave thy victory?’ I triumph still, if thou abide with me’.
As Jesus returns to his Father at the Crucifixion, this moment is, as Jerome’s Biblical Commentary gives it to us, the ‘hour’ of Jesus’s glorification and this ‘hour’ is the focus of John’s Gospel. To arrive at this moment, there have been cycles of acceptance and rejection until he gets there. Yet, as we know from today’s Gospel reading, Jesus knows before his Crucifixion that he is glorified and not only that, but he asks his Father to give this glory to his Disciples so that they may be as one as he and the Father are one. Then they will be in the Father and himself. The Disciples will become completely one so that the world may know that the Father has sent Jesus and that he has loved them as the Father has loved him.
In his Commentary on the Gospel of John, David Pawson describes what he finds in the Gospel as the three petitions of Jesus. Jesus prays that he will be glorified, that his Apostles be sanctified and that all believers will be unified. A similar pattern of three petitions can be found, as Pawson writes, in the Old Testament in Leviticus chapter 16 when the High Priest prays in the Temple for himself, his fellow priests and the people of God.
This petitioning for unity of God the Father, God the Son and all the world is what makes the distinction between the earthly glory that I referred to earlier and the glory as given in John’s Gospel. Jesus prays to the Father that others may see his glory but it is best understood as an inner glory of being rather than an external glory. It is not an individual observation or a particular instance of pleasure, such as a ‘glorious occasion’ but an offering for all to share in the love of God. It is, as Fergus King’s Guide to John’s Gospel gives it, an offer to all believers to share in the intimacy of the relationship between Jesus and God. That does not mean that we need not work for unity, because, as Pawson writes, we cannot hide behind the mystical unity; we must deal with the visible quarrelling. What we have been offered is the Orthodox tradition of ‘theosis’ which means ‘God became man, so that man may become God’. As Cally Hammond wrote recently in the Church Times, there is no self-aggrandisement of Jesus in his glory but he is the visible embodiment of what we have all been called to, which is to be made divine. As the Psalmist writes in Psalm 82:6 ‘You are Gods’.
This shared glory we can say is a gift from God as it is salvation by grace not good works. It involves a washing away of our sins. In Psalm 51, the Psalmist asks God to create a clean heart in him and put a new and right spirit within him. In chapter 22 of the Book of Revelation we read that those who wash their robes will have the right to the Tree of Life and enter the heavenly city by the gates.
What an extraordinary and unique gift this is, to share in the glory of God. I would say that in today’s very troubled world, awareness of this gift is surely needed more than ever. It can lighten our darkness in these anxious times and offer a unity of all peoples rather than the conflicts that are ongoing today. We can play our part by prayer and word of mouth in order that the hearts and minds of people be opened to this gift so that they too can bask in the light of God’s glory.
AMEN