John 17:1-5 “Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up
His eyes to heaven, He said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your
Son, that the Son may glorify You, even as You gave Him authority
over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give
eternal life. This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only
true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. I glorified You on the
earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do. Now,
Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with
You before the world was.” (NASB)
Hello,
As Jesus prepares to be betrayed and crucified, he spends
some time with His disciples and begins to talk more directly and in less
parables (we see this mentioned in the end of John 16:29 “His disciples said, ‘Lo,
now You are speaking plainly and are not using figures of speech.”) This prayer
starting in chapter 17 comes right on the heels of that comment. (*the prayer
goes for the entire chapter)
What stood out to me in this prayer was the amount of times
Jesus uses the word glorify. The word glorify means to cause to be or treat as
more splendid than normally considered. It also means to praise or admire.
Jesus asked that He Himself be glorified – a request that normally we would see
as selfish and self-serving. But, He immediately puts the purpose behind it –
so that the glory of the Son would reflect right back and bring glory to God
the Father. Jesus looked at His role as being in a position to glorify and
point to the Father. The accomplishment Jesus points to was not about Himself
(despite being perfect) but was about doing what was laid out and instructed by
the Father – this brought the Father glory.
I hope this is a challenge for each of us. How are we
bringing the Father glory? Are we doing what is laid in front of us by Him? Is
our glory found in Him getting glory?
Have a blessed day,
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