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, 2 since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. 4 I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.
Jesus’ Glory
It is in the humiliation of the cross that Jesus will be glorified. Jesus will be enthroned on the cross and he will be lifted up as the cure for all mankind. In this paradoxical reality what looks horrific is actually beautiful because of what it accomplishes. Jesus’ self-sacrificial love is beautiful. It is also at the same time horrific. Somehow the grandeur of the task is related to its horror.
Our images of glory are often clean and opulent. We see a hero glorified and we expect fanfare and shouts of joy and wonder. Jesus dies alone and surrounded by mockers. God’s glory works in ways that we can’t anticipate.
My wife seeks to glorify God today, but she has been weakened by a series of mistakes that any one of us could have made. She is writing a devotional for a women’s group. However, her own competency comes into question when she turned off the alarm making me late for work. She got the kids to school in such a mad rush that she had to drop off her daughter and then go and buy a couple of things that she had forgotten. She is reminded that if anything good comes together for the devotional, it is not because of her own competence, but God will be glorified through the abundance of his grace.
I missed my train this morning. I then jumped in the car. There was an accident on the tollway. I was late for class. I had to cancel class. I couldn’t reach the desk to let the students know. When I arrived, my boss told me that he is coming to observe my next class. I am aware that I have no control over life’s ups and downs. However, I am also aware that if my 11 o’clock class goes well the glory goes to God. He will work in spite of my weakness. If the class goes poorly, it is just my own shortcomings and the justice of the world.
In the cross and in each of our lives, God’s mercy triumphs over judgment. In the resurrection God’s grace is lavished upon us as we all get to live. Jesus’ glory plays out in every generation. We can trust in him and walk into all that he has purchased for us. Even if he purchased it by enduring the shame of the cross.
Prayer
Father, I know that you work in ways that we don’t understand. At first glance your son’s death looks like you just stood by and allowed your Son to be murdered. However, you stood by and allowed him to take on a debt that none of us could repay. You allowed him to defeat sin in creation. I pray that sin and shortcoming would be overcome in each of our lives and that your glory would be shown in our weakness. Your wisdom would shine through our feeble minds. Your words would come from our unworthy mouths. Your truth would challenge those whose lives we touch and bring the world to you.
Questions
- What are synonyms for ‘glory’?
- How is Jesus to be glorified?
- Why would this series of events be a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles?
- In what ways does Jesus reveal his glory to you?
- How is God glorified in your weakness?
Plymothian 
1) Some synonyms that I found in the thesaurus for the word glory are greatness, majesty, prestige, and fame.
2) Jesus is to be glorified through His death on the cross!
3) Because Jesus’ death on the cross was brutal and horrific, the people may not have seen or recognized His glory shining through it.
4) His glory is daily revealed through circumstances, other people, and in my life.
5) Although I have many weaknesses, God is faithful, and He always has a plan to work through my shortcomings.
1. Synonyms for glory are honor, magnificence, splendor, beauty, and exaltation.
2. Jesus asks the Father to glorify Him “in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed”.
3. How is anyone glorified by dying? It’s counter-intuitive and illogical to us Gentiles and it’s a stumbling block to the Jewish people – how could the Messiah, the God Most High, be glorified by dying?
4. Jesus reveals His glory and power to me when He works in spite of me.
5. When I am trying to hard to convict, encourage, teach, or whatever in my own strength God is good enough to work despite me.
Glory, to gloriofy: God comes to mind through Jesus Christ. Everything else falls short.
Jesus glorifies Gods work to Gods truth without for one instance for his own. WOW
We missed the truth and are saved, thank God.
Jesus does it all for the father not himself but for us.
Strength comes from weakness especially in glorifying God. My weakness makes me want to learn how to over come, just to fall again. I am weak but still to know that all thing are possible. I listen to the World Hope leader today on the radio and I fall way short to the point I am embarrassed but I know the Spirit is teaching me what I am really asking for and where my heart should really be.
1. Beauty, power, might, awesomeness, greatness…
2. Jesus is to be glorified through death.
3. Jesus on the cross is horrifying. It is one of the most inhumane ways to die and not seen as honorable or desirable. For the Jews, this was a stumbling block, since they didn’t think their Messiah would die. For the Gentiles, it is foolishness because dying in such a way is humiliating.
1. power, awesome, goodness, beauty
2. Through Jesus’ death He was glorified
3. The Jews will be confused because they thought the Messiah was coming to save them from Rome’s political power over them, not to die. The Gentiles thought it was foolish because dying on a cross is very humiliating.
4. Jesus reveals His glory to me by working through my weaknesses.
5. God is glorified in my weaknesses because He does that things that I could never ever do on my own and it is evident that it is not me.
1. When I hear the word ‘glory’ I think of the moment immediately following a triumphant act, and it doesn’t have to be something flashy just truly meaningful and pivotal. Not sure if there is a word for that.
2. Jesus is to be glorified on the cross in death which he conquers through by being raised to life.
3. The Jews had made the messiah into a knight in shining amour. They were not prepared to listen to God. The Gentiles may not have been waiting for a savior but when they saw this Jesus hanging with tax collectors and prostitutes, I’m sure they had similar thoughts.
4. Jesus reveals his glory to me in his word, in Godly people and in carrying me through some hard circumstances.
5. I’m not sure, that is amazing though. It definitely shows his forgiveness. Any good in me comes from God and any good I do not have, God has and so much more.
Not sure if you will read this later…but I am writing something also on this topic and stumbled upon yours. When I read your first comment, I thought of the word BAM! Like when something amazing just happened, or some great remark was just made, and someone else remarks after them, “BAM!” 🙂
This would be stumbling block to Jews because it is written in the book of Deuteronomy 21:23. Surely they would have believed that one who blasphemed against God got was he was due, a sinful death. To the Gentile to look upon a man in death, the weakest point in life, and to believe that he is ultimately glorified in that state seems to be counterintuitive to all that the world teaches.
1. magnificence, grandeur, triumph, splendor, greatness
2. Jesus is to be glorified through His death on the cross.
3. It is a stumbling block to the Jews if they do not believe that Jesus is the Christ and is foolishness to the Gentiles if we do not understand that Jesus died on the cross to save us.
4. Jesus reveals His glory to me by showing me that all things work for the benefit of His kingdom.
5. God is glorified in my weakness because then all the glory goes to Him, to whom it belongs.
The definition of glory does not seem to match with what Jesus is experiencing here. Instead of being honored for his greatness, he is being humiliated. Jesus is glorified when he triumphs over death and sin and proclaims himself king. This “Glory” is not what the Jews anticipated and looks like foolishness to the Gentiles. Jesus reveals his glory to me in the scriptures and in his triumph over my sin.
Jew or Gentile, this is not what is expected of a triumphant Messiah, King, or leader.
I don’t think God needs weakness and suffering to work good, but I think it is one of His great works that He can redeem even that and use it. So my weakness are a chance for God to demonstrate His power.
“It is not my ability, but my response to God’s ability that counts.” – Corrie ten Boom
1)When I think of glory I think of a king. I also think of a noble hero who is given reward for what he has done or who he is.
2) In the hour of his death by his Father (v.1)
3) It takes weakness and turns it into strength. It expresses a wounded healer and glorified loser who gains all authority and power. None of that makes sense to most people.
4) In everything I see there is the glory of God. His power in creation his love when I fall. Right now I see God’s glory in the fact that even when doing my best this school year it wasn’t enough. He has to get me through.
5) He is shown in my crucifiction, in my death daily when I turn to him in the midst of circumstances that would make others turn away.
I was trying to describe how all of life is about God’s glory to someone last night and it was hard to express it to someone who doesn’t agree or know God well. It seems selfish of God to do all things for His glory, but I know that because He actually deserves the glory, it is not at all wrong, and is actually right.
I love how Jesus says that eternal life is to know God. Not to be happy or content or anything, even though I think that comes, but to know God. Amazing.
What are synonyms for ‘glory’? praise, worship, adoration, veneration, honor, reverence, exaltation, homage, thanksgiving, thanks
How is Jesus to be glorified? Through our every breathe and movement. Jesus is to be glorified when we are listening to a song, and fall on our knees in reverence of our magnificent Lord Jesus. Even the simplest of things we can give Jesus the glory, such as eating, walking, or thinking. Jesus is to be glorified for the incredible sacrifice He gave, when for just a moment He was separated from the Trinity and died in our place. Jesus took on sin, He took on the uglyness that takes over each and every one of our lives and died for it, so that we might be with God in Heaven.
Why would this series of events be a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles? It doesn’t make sense to the rational thinker. The strongest was made weak, and the weak was brought up in the strength of Jesus Christ.
In what ways does Jesus reveal his glory to you? He reveals Himself in one of two ways: General and Special Revelation. Generally, He reveals Himself to me everyday when I look outside and either see the magnificence of the sun or the power of a stormy overcast sky. It is impossible to not believe in a creative Creator when Creation is right in front of your face. In special ways, Jesus reveals Himself in giving me power to make it through each day. When I become physically tired and don’t want to do homework, I pray for strength and He is faithful and gives me the strength to get things done.
How is God glorified in your weakness? He is glorified in my weakness because when I become weak, He can make me strong. It is only He who allows my every breathe, and I rely on His strength every day to write papers, to go to work, to go to class, to eat food. God is glorified when we need Him, but not only that, but when we recognize our intense need for His strength.
Jesus is glorified in my weakness because I am constantly showing the world how incompetent I am. Yet, somehow things work out and good things take place. Really, it’s his grace and glory that gets me through. He uses my weaknesses to show the world his grace and glory
Some of the synonyms I found for glory include honor, grandeur, greatness, and prestige. Jesus was to be glorified by God through his death on the cross. God reveals his glory to me through the different stages that I go through in life. He always shows up in different ways, but always shows up and shows me his power and glory and greatness over me.
According to dictionary.com, some synonyms for “glory” include fame, eminence, celebrity, brilliance, refulgence, and effulgence, the latter two of which I was unaware of existing.
This passage does not explicitly say how Jesus will be glorified, other than that the glory He receives will come to Him from the Father. However, based on John 3 (Jesus will be lifted up), as well as our ability to look back through history at what happened in the gospels, modern readers know that Jesus was glorified on the cross, and, later, at His ascension.
The Jews would have seen Jesus’ death as a fatal flaw (pun intended) to their view of Him as the Messiah because they were expecting a king and ruler who would liberate them from Roman rule and be a little closer in appearance to the monarch of the Old Testament. As for the Gentiles, their religious practices involved worship of pagan gods and goddesses who I doubt ever died, and who certainly never willingly died on behalf of others. To them, all this Jesus business was just plain silly.
I believe one of my favorite ways is in the little glimpses of beauty that He allows me to catch throughout the day. When I see a little detail in the way a man looks at the one he loves, or when a word is spoken in a tone that catches my heart, or even when He provides care for me in the hands and feet of those around me, I see these things and my heart is drawn to Him, and His majestic involvement in the details of this intricate world. And that is glory.
I believe that Mr Worrall’s words above very accurately communicate how I believe God is glorified in my weakness. I think God is most glorified when I do things that I in my fallen humanity certainly could not achieve (when I am patient in the face of a cussing, hitting foster brother, when I choose to serve another with listening ears and empathetic heart, instead of checking out and resting). Additionally, I have the choice to bring Him glory by intentionally drawing attention to how He has sustained me, grown me, and continues to pour mercy on me.
1. What are synonyms for ‘glory’?
I feel like “honor” would be a good synonym.
2. How is Jesus to be glorified?
He will be raised from the dead and ascended to the father.
4. In what ways does Jesus reveal his glory to you?
In the preaching of his word that I hear every Sunday. I remember what the Scriptures say of Chrsit and who he is.
5. How is God glorified in your weakness?
He gives me strength when I have none. When trials come in my life, challenging my sinful desires, he reminds me through his word, what promises I can hold onto.