GLORIFY YOUR SON

John 17:1-5

Key Verse 17:1

“After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: ‘Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.’”

Most gracious heavenly Father thank you for giving us the living words of God through John’s gospel. Please help us to learn Jesus’ prayer to glorify God. In Jesus’ name I pray. 

Over the last several weeks, we have been studying Jesus’ last teachings to His disciples from chapter 13 through 16. First of all Jesus showed them the full extent of his love(13:1). He planted in them a glorious vision of the kingdom of heaven(14:2). And he encouraged them to remain attached to him who is the true vine(15:1). In the previous chapter Jesus pointed out that there would be many spiritual battles ahead. He promised to send the Holy Spirit to help them out. Jesus concluded, “But take heart! I have overcome the world.” 

Now let’s imagine for a moment, you are just told. “Tomorrow you will die.” What would you do? In this Chapter 17 at that situation Jesus directs his full attention to prayer. We can learn how he prays and what his prayer topics are. We can divide it into three parts. Jesus prays for himself (1-5), for his disciples (6-19), and for all believers (20-26). He used his last flying minutes to pray for God’s glory and others. Therefore it is called Jesus’ high priestly prayer. May the Lord help us to learn from his prayer for the next three messages. Today I will only cover v. 1-5. 

Part 1, Your Son may glorify you (1)

Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross has named five stages of the people suffering from deadly malignant cancer. First, Denial and Isolation. They tend to deny the fact that it has already taken place, and may withdraw from usual social contacts. Second, Anger. He or she may be angry with himself or herself even if, realistically, nothing could have stopped it. Third, Bargaining. Now the grieving person may make bargains with God, asking, "If I do this, will you take it away?" Fourth, Depression. The person feels now depressed before the final stage. Lastly, Acceptance. The person simply accepts the reality. These five steps are natural response. However Jesus’ response in today’s passage before death was quite different.  

Look at verse 1.  “After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: “Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.” First of all Jesus called God as “Father.” He believed that his Father loved him unconditionally and would be with him to the end. Jesus’ relationship with the Father was not tainted with doubt due to his impending sufferings and death. Rather, he fully trusted God. He knew Judas was betraying him to the religious authorities. The hatred of the world was about to lashed out on him. All his friends would abandon him. Peter, even his most loyal disciple will deny him three times. Jesus would go completely alone through mocking, beatings and then, execution on a cross at the hands of the Romans. Still, Jesus calls God “Father” with absolute trust in his Father’s love. 

Jesus also said, “The time has come.” According to John 2:4, Jesus said, “My time has not yet come.” Also in chap. 7:6, Jesus said, “The right time for me has not yet come; for you any time is right.” In John’s gospel, Jesus is very sensitive to the time. Jesus came to this world in order to fulfill God’s will and God’s purpose. So Jesus moved in accordance with the will of God and he never went ahead of God’s schedule. He pointed out that the time has come! What does it mean? It means that he was about to be crucified. The Cross was the critical moment of history. All the prophesies and the laws of the old testament had been looking ahead to this time of the Cross that would reconcile man with his creator. The time has come! Jesus boldly declared such time at the beginning of his prayer. 

Also “The time has come” means that God is in sovereign control of our life time and we can rely on him at any situation. It reminds me of missionary John Lee who had served Paraguay faithfully more than two decades. In 03-7-2007, which marked the 20th Anniversary of his going to Paraguay, he was fatally wounded by a gun shot. That day he was carried to the local hospital, but there was no doctor who could perform surgery on him. It took eight hours until he was finally transferred to the capital city hospital. He could have died there. But amazingly, he did not die. It was only because God’s time did not come. Since then God added to him four more years. After a recovery, he even went back to his mission and served world mission faithfully. At God’s time God called him lately. David Livingstone who used to be a dedicated African missionary said, "We will never die until our mission from God has been fulfilled." 

 Look at verse 1b again. “...Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.” This is his earnest plea that the Father would grant him the power and the wisdom to remain faithful and gain victory in the trial to come. There was no glory to be seen in what was about to happen. The glory of the Son of God would be shattered. The cross does not seem glorious at all to human eyes. How could Jesus pray to be glorified when he was about to be beaten, flogged, stripped, nailed to a cross, and lifted up, for all to laugh at and curse at while he slowly died? But Jesus’ death converted the cross from a symbol of shame to a symbol of glory because the Cross reveals Jesus’ sacrificial llove: “greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends”(Jn 5:13). The Cross also reveals Jesus’ willing and complete obedience to the Father. Hebrews 5:7 to 9 read, “During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him” 

Jesus’ purpose was not to glorify himself, rather he prayed, “Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.” Jesus’ concern was not personal glory, rather  through his self denial and obedient life, the Father would be glorified. The word “glorify” (doxazo) means “show honor” or “reveal the wonderful character of someone.” Jesus “glorified” God in His life and death. He thus revealed many aspects of God’s character: His power, His holiness, His compassion, His grace, His love, His wisdom and His mercy. He even prays for the forgiveness of those who crucified him. And yet, His life was the ultimate expression of glorifying God. Jesus’ life of bold obedience even to death rendered glory to the Father. 

Jesus’ prayer also reveals his deep seated heart’s desire that God be glorified. Man’s chief end purpose is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. According to Genesis 1, we are created for the glory of God. Romans 11:36 also reads, “For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever.” So the bottom line is htat we must glorify God above all. According to “the declaration of independence” by the committee of Congress in 1776, its beginning of the document explains that “All Men created equal, that they endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” America's key Founders believed and emphasized that men have unalienable rights for these. They stated each word with the first capital letters. Surely these are very valuable in human society. That’s why so many immigrants kept coming to this land for such intrinsic value. 

But today Jesus’ prayer enlightens and challenges us. It shows a quite different or opposite value: that glorifying God should be before anything or even before any human right. We Americans make our individual rights holy. Often times God was urged to serve our human happiness instead of us living to worship and serve God. But in 1863 the most famous Gettysburg address delivered by president Abraham L. pointed out, “this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” In this way from the beginning, each of us is hard-wired to pursue our happiness. We long for significant, profound joy with our hard earned freedom. Some try to satisfy it with richness, high-tech gadgets, career success, sports, academics, and much more. Likewise freedom is at the heart of what it means to be an American. As citizens of this great nation, we are free to think and speak as we please. We have the right to educate our children in free and better schools, to seek justice in the courts, to aspire to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. But remember, they say that the better is the very enemy of the best. Therefore the dreadful truth behind all these blessed nation of America we have the most valuable freedom to worship God as our best. 

“Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.” Although Jesus was being completely equal with God before the creation(Philippians 2:5-8), he did not consider His right to be treasured or even made holy. In John’s gospel the word “give”, “gave” or given” are repeated 76 times. Also in this chapter 17, they are repeated heavily up to 14 times. Although he is the almighty Creator, He chose to obey the will of His Father and be faithful to the task he was given by God. He also willingly and humbly set His right aside and take upon himself the attributes of a slave. In chapter 13, we saw Jesus washing the feet of his disciples. He had taken off His outer garments, rolled up His sleeves, taken a towel, and a basin of water and had proceeded to wash the disciple’s feet one by one. This was the responsibility of slaves. It was the responsibility of Gentile slaves because Jewish slaves were not even required to stoop so low. But it became a powerful illustration of Jesus’ humility being a slave among them. In this way He waived His right and His privileges not because he was forced to do so, but because he was willing in order to serve others. 

The outward action of such attitude of service continued to live a life subject to the weaknesses of human flesh, and ultimately died like a criminal. Isaiah describes these as Him bearing grief and carrying our sorrows(Isa 53:4-6).There was no clearer or better picture of self sacrifice than this. This is “servant leadership.” It reminds me of John Mark, the author of Mark’s gospel and the son of Mary who offered upper room for Jesus at this period of time. He was brought up from well to do family and always ambitiously dreamt to be a missionary for God. But he ran away due to some hardship in the midst of missionary journey with apostle Paul. Later he repented and realized Jesus’ true servantship and became a saint Mark. He said in Mk10:45, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” May the Lord raise up many servants of Jesus like Mark, a born again Christian. America may be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation in and through our role model Jesus Christ. 

Jesus’ prayer is also challenging us to truly glorify God in our practical lives. 1Cor 10:31 reads, “so whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” By eating for the glory of God, we get energy to do our mission of praying, studying the Bible and proclaiming the word of God. But often times we are confronted with so many problems. In the end we are prone to say, “We can not live for the glory of God.” So glorifying God’s name in this world is not a natural thing. Rather it’s a fierce spiritual battle with the devil. It was the devil that tempted men to doubt God’s love and led them into sin. Since then the devil has lied about God in every possible way. The devil poisoned the hearts of people with pride, ingratitude and bitterness until they became enemies of God who joined in his blasphemy. Jesus wanted to solve this basic and fundamental problem from the root. Jesus wanted to reveal God’s power over the devil. Jesus wanted to reveal the power of God’s love, that he sacrificed his only Son for the salvation of all people. There is nothing in this world that exemplifies the shame and the cruel death of man more than the cross. But in Jesus’ prayer the cross is glorious because it reveals God’s real love the most. The cross proclaims God’s love to all people throughout history. The cross draws people from every tribe and every language and every culture to God.

One day(Jn 12:23), some Greeks approached Jesus through Philip. That time Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of man to be glorified. I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” Jesus’ life and his life purpose remained the same. It’s easy to glorify God when things are going well like the time when out of clear blue some Greek wanted to honor him. But times of suffering, such as Jesus suffered on the Cross are also truly excellent opportunities to glorify God.

 So we have a great privilege today to learn this prayer from our Lord Jesus. We must pray as Jesus did to glorify God even though we suffer loss. Often times we need to deny ourselves and take up our cross to do so (Mk 8:34,35). “Glory your Son, that your Son may glorify You.” May God help each of us to learn Jesus’ life purpose. Like our Lord Jesus Christ who chose to be lowest position on earth and lifted up to the highest position in heaven, we can follow his example. 

Part 2, Jesus gives eternal life (2-5).

In this part Jesus shows further his practical examples about how to glorify God. Look at v 2. “For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him.” Jesus said in John 5:26-27, “For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.” God granted Jesus authority over all people. God also gave him life to give us eternal life when we accept his word. It is also amazing to know that Jesus used his authority to give us eternal life for our ultimate good. In this way he glorify God by fulfilling God’s desire. What then is eternal life? Jesus further defines it at the following verse. 

Let’s look at verse 3. “Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” I found the fact that based on this specific verse, the first college in North America, “Harvard” established in 1636, 16 years after the landing of the Pilgrims set up the main goal of studies as knowing God and Jesus Christ which is eternal life. The original founder believe that all knowledge without Christ was vain. 

In fact this verse is Jesus’ clear definition of what eternal life is all about. It surprises or even challenges us. It isn’t merely existing forever. One person that I know does not want eternal life because he thinks that it is a mere continuity of physical life filled with sorrow. Even among believers, many assume that “eternal life” means to purchase a ticket one time to go to heaven when they die. But they misunderstood greatly.

Eternal life is not only quantity of life, but also quality of life. In this context, Jesus is rather referring to quality of life that brings about “abundant life” starting from here and now. Jesus already clarified in 10:10 by saying “I AM the good shepherd.” He came to give us life to the full. He also explains that this occurs through an intimate and personal knowledge of God the Father and Jesus Christ the Son. It is to know by both observation and experience—an intimate personal knowledge (ginosko).” So knowing God is a direct relationship with God. It is not knowing about God generally, but knowing him meaningfully through a personal relationship. Therefore we should not be misled into thinking that just because we have heard of God’s words or know something about him, that we actually know him personally. Consider how many times you have seen President Obama on TV, and all that you have heard about him. But can you really say that you know him or he would recognize you in person? I don’t think so. 

For this purpose God sent us his one and only Son Jesus Christ who is the exact representation of God. Without Jesus Christ, no body knows God. He came so that we can know God. We find him as the one true God. He is the one and only Creator of the seen and the unseen universe. He is the one and only Sovereign Ruler of man and the world. He is full of wisdom and perfect in holiness. He is real, the living God who loves us, hears our prayers and answers them. This privilege has been given to his beloved disciples first for they came to know Jesus in person. One of his disciples, John said in 1:18, “No one has ever seen God. But God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known.”

In contrast, the Pharisees thought they knew God, so they persecuted Christians. Jesus said in Jn 16:3 that they would do such things because they have not known the Father or him. Instead of repeating their mistake on the issue of eternal life, we study the Bible to know God deeper and better, and to work out our salvation. Let our attitude be like that of Paul who proclaimed, “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.” (Ph 3:10-11) May the Lord help us to pick up spiritual desire to know him very personally. May God bless our upcoming Spring Bible Conference so that we may invite new students and have them know the only true God in and through Jesus Christ. 

Look at verses 4. “I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.” In what respect did Jesus complete his work? When Jesus died on the cross, it marked the end of his public ministry. After resurrection, the Risen Christ appeared to his disciples in glory, a glory hidden from the world. When they met the Risen Christ, suddenly everything made sense to them. They realized that Jesus is the true God who had shepherded over them perfectly. They had an eternal bond of love with God in and through Jesus. This realization was the conclusion of Jesus’ earthly discipleship ministry. They would no longer follow the human Jesus by sight, but go forth in faith, guided by the Spirit. How great it was for Jesus to report to his Father like a dear child: “mission accomplished!” Also his mission made the climax in his  sacrificial death on the cross. In his absolute respect and honor toward God, Jesus did the work God sent him to do, steadily and faithfully, to the end of his life. This is how he practically brought glory to God. May we learn Jesus’ prayer, “I have brought you glory!” Eph 2:10 tells us that “We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do.” When we obey God and faithfully carry out our mission, then we bring glory to God. God gave us campus mission to pioneer all campuses in America and the whole world. In this world there are two kinds of things; what we like to do and what we have to do. When we deny ourselves and do what we have to do before God rather than what we like to do, it seemed a losing business sometimes. But it is to glorify God’s name and truly bear much fruit up to thirty, sixty, and one hundred times.   

Look at verse 5. “And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.” Here the glory is eternal and original glory. Now Jesus prays to the Father to glorify him with eternal glory. At this extreme situation just before crucifixion, Jesus never lost his firm vision to go back to his original glory and His eternal home with His Father. The glory he is talking about here is the one he had with his Father before the world began. We will enter the same glory together with Him when we follow his example and finish our mission on earth for God’s glory. 

In conclusion) The most important word in this short passage is “glory.” His primary concern is that the Father be glorified. May the Lord help us to glorify God by following our role model, Jesus Christ. May we learn His life purpose and undying spirit of glorifying God. May we complete the work God has given us through constant prayer that he be glorified. 

One word: Glorify your Son!

Most Gracious heavenly Father, thank you so much for teaching us with Jesus’ high priestly prayer. May the Lord help us to follow His good example to render glory to God. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen. 

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