Thursday 31 July 2014
- Bible Book:
- John
“Jesus answered, ‘If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, he of whom you say, “He is our God”, though you do not know him. But I know him; if I would say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know him and I keep his word.’” (vv. 54-55)
Background
It is often embarrassing to witness an argument, not least ofall one which has escalated from a family row to one of theologicalproportions. In this passage, Jesus' message to the religiousopponents is so offensive to them, that they start to pick upstones and roll them in their hands (verse 59). They are soincensed by Jesus' statements about the nature of God that theyintend on stone him to death.
In John's Gospel, this passage is one of the key turning pointsof the narrative - for it is here that we begin to see thehostility and venom that Jesus incited as he enabled people tounderstand more of his purpose and identity. Although John saysthat his time has not yet come, it is clear that for some of hishearers, this was only a matter of biding their time, until Jesus'hour at last came.
For all the antagonism and outright hostility in this passage,it is significant to also notice the importance of 'glory' here.Glory is a powerful word, but one which can be easily skipped overbecause of its ecclesial and theological overtones. 'Glory' hasbecome the text on religious Christmas cards and sung in carols -but it is not the beauty, magnificence and splendour that isintended in this passage.
Jesus is saying here that he has no interest in self-promotion.Indeed he is not expecting people to worship him alone, but ratherto discover and worship God. This is not Jesus' public manifesto topolitical life, but a further invitation to recognise the power ofGod in their midst.
The religious leaders in the argument would understand Jesus'allusions at this point. Jesus is not merely using conceptuallanguage to evoke a different temperament in the argument - infact, quite the opposite. The Glory of God is a significant Mosaicexperience, contained with the Torah.
Further, Jesus once again uses the phrase "I am" (v. 58) whendiscussing the glory of the Father, thereby further reminding theJewish authorities about Jesus' claim to divinity.
Jesus is clearly pointing towards the awesomeness of God - buthe is doing so in a way which would cause his hearers to recognisethe nuance of the claims that Jesus was making.
To Ponder
- Where have you noticed the glory of God?
- How do you respond to Jesus' argumentativeness?
- What do you find offensive about the gospel (the good news ofJesus)?