It is healthy to have rhythms of rest and renewal. To that end I spent yesterday on retreat and I am taking this opportunity to record something of what I have been thinking through. We began the day with a Lectio Divina (Sacred Reading) exercise on John 12:20-36. In Lectio Divina you are asked to focus on a word or phrase that particularly stands out. For me the word that stood out was Glory, Glorify or Glorified. That led me into a deeper study on the usage of this word in John’s Gospel. I am quite excited about some of the observations that came out of that:

The first reference to Glory in John’s Gospel appears right at the outset of the gospel. It is in John’s prologue when he talks about how Jesus entered our world and made His dwelling amongst us. John writes that: “We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (1:14b). The incredible thought here is that when Jesus entered our world we saw His glory. This thought serves as a good introduction to all that follows:

Jesus Revealed His Glory (ch.2):

Next we jump into ch.2 and the occasion where Jesus turns water into wine. Jesus is at a wedding banquet and his mother Mary tells Him that they had no more wine. In this culture this was a disaster! Jesus responds strongly saying: “Woman, why do you involve me?”…“My hour has not yet come” (2:4). Mary however tells the servants to do whatever He tells them to do. What happens next is that Jesus does an incredible miracle and eventually the master of the banquet told the bridegroom that he had “saved the best til now.” The reference to glory comes at the end of this story: “What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.” (2:11).

John is very clever in how he puts together his gospel. There are for example seven miracles, seven ‘signs and seven ‘I am’ sayings. This was the first of the signs and John says Jesus revealed His glory through each of them! The result of this was that Jesus’ disciples believed in Him. Coming face-to-face with the glory of God should lead us to believe and trust Jesus.

Contrasting notions of Glory (ch.5-9):

The next few references focus on different notions of glory. Most appear in conversations that Jesus has with members of the religious authorities. In ch.5 He accuses them of accepting glory from one another and not seeking glory from God. In ch.7 He contrasts how they speak on their own to gain person glory while the man of truth seeks the glory of the one who sent him. In ch.8 Jesus declares that He himself is not seeking glory for Himself. Glorifying Himself means nothing because the Father is the one who glorifies Him. Finally in ch.9, where Jesus heals a blind man, the religious authorities try to convince him to tell the truth. They are convinced he was a sinner and clearly not telling the truth. So they appeal to him to give glory to God in doing so.

⁴⁴ How can you believe since you accept glory from one another but do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?

¹⁸ Whoever speaks on their own does so to gain personal glory, but he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him. 

⁵⁰ I am not seeking glory for myself; but there is one who seeks it, and he is the judge.

⁵⁴ Jesus replied, “If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me. 

²⁴ A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. “Give glory to God by telling the truth,” they said. “We know this man is a sinner.”

John 5:44, 7:18, 8:50,54, 9:24

It is for God’s Glory… (ch.11):

The next references come in the story of how Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead. Right at the outset of the story Lazarus’ sisters Mary and Martha send word to Jesus to let him know that the one who He loved was sick. They clearly hoped to encourage Jesus to come quickly but Jesus delayed going back to Judea for two days. Specifically Jesus says: “When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it” (v4). This really is a quite fascinating statement from Jesus and it paints a picture for us of how Jesus was looking to bring glory both to the Father and to Himself through the way that this situation was worked out. After Lazarus miraculously rose from the dead, Jesus said: “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” (v40). Again John is making clear to us that the disciples had come face to face with the glory of God.

Time for the Son of Man to be Glorified (ch.12):

Jesus then rode into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey. John references a number of Old Testament Scriptures which speak about this. John testifies that the disciples did not understand any of this, however, until after Jesus had been glorified. Jesus then speaks here of how He would be glorified through His death. The context of this is that some Greeks come to the disciples saying that they would like to see Jesus. They relay this to Jesus and He responds with an illustration from the natural world:

²³ Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. ²⁴ Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. ²⁵ Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. ²⁶ Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honour the one who serves me.

John 12:23-26

In contrast to what we read in ch.2 Jesus now says that the hour has now come for Him to be glorified. He speaks of how a kernel of wheat remains only a single seed unless it dies. In death it produces many seeds. Jesus then speaks strongly about how those who cling to their lives will lose them but those who hate their lives will keep them for eternal life. As servants of Christ, our rightful response to the revelation of His glory must be to follow Him.

Jesus’ soul is troubled by all that awaits Him, but He knows that this is the reason why He had come to this hour. He calls on the Father to glorify His name and then a voice is heard from Heaven saying: “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again” (28). Jesus says that the voice was for their benefit rather than His!

The Spirit glorifies the Son (7:37-39, 16:14):

There are also a couple of references to how the Holy Spirit will bring glory to the Son. In ch.7 Jesus invites the thirsty to come to Him and drink. He says that whoever believes in Him, “rivers of living water will flow from within them” (v38). This is then explained in v39 as meaning that Jesus meant the Holy Spirit who had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet been glorified. Later in ch.16 Jesus speaks of how the ministry of the Holy Spirit will bring glory to Him because “…it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you” (v14). J.I. Packer famously wrote about this saying that the Holy Spirit is like a floodlight. A floodlight does not draw attention to itself, but rather to what it illuminates. The Spirit’s ministry brings attention and glory to the Son!

Praying for God’s Glory (ch.17)

One of the chapters in John’s gospel which says most about glory is actually ch.17 which is Jesus’ high priestly prayer. Listen to what He prays for Himself:

“Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. ² For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. ³ Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. ⁴ I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. ⁵ And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.

John 17:1b-5

It is fascinating how Jesus asks His Father to glorify Him so that He may glorify the Father. This is the relationship we see throughout the three members of the trinity. In Jesus’ case He says that he has glorified the Father by finishing the work that He had given Him to do! But then Jesus prays secondly for His disciples and He tells us that glory has come to Him through the disciples. Finally Jesus prays for all believers including people like us. Listen again to what He says:

²² I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— ²³ I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. ²⁴ “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.

John 17:22-24

Jesus says that He had given them the glory He had received from the Father so that there would be unity. Furthermore He wants them (i.e. those God had given to Him) to be where He is and to see His glory. There is of course a taster of this now but this is only a snapshot of the glory that one day awaits us with Jesus in Heaven. Wow!

How we will glorify God (15:8, 21:19)

The final references remind me of what it says in the Westminster Shorter Catechism:

“Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.”

Westminster Shorter Catechism

Hopefully as I’ve worked through the references to Glory in Joh’s gospel we have got the message that within the Godhead there is this three way desire to bring glory to one another. Hopefully we have also seen that our rightful response to God is also to bring Him glory. He in turn bring Him glory as we follow, serve, obey, praise and honour Him.

There are however two further references which develop this further. Firstly in 15:8, Jesus says: “This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” We glorify God through our fruitfulness for Him and as we show ourselves to be His disciples. We might ask ourselves in what way we are bringing Him glory right now?

The final reference is at the end of the John’s gospel. It comes after Jesus had restored Peter by asking him three times, “do you love me”. Peter replied affirmatively and Jesus told him each time to feed His sheep. Then Jesus told him how he would die and He said “Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, ‘Follow me!’ ” (21:19).

Whether we live or die, God’s purpose for our lives is that we might glorify Him. Our future in Him is glorious and we can have confidence that we will indeed enjoy Him forever!

Cover Photo by Photoholgic on Unsplash