John 17:1-8 (NRSV)

After Jesus had spoken these words, he looked up to heaven and said, 'Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all people, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him.  And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.  I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do.  So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed.  'I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.  Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me.

The word today for me is glorify.  It is used throughout the passage.  These verses in the 17th chapter of John make up the longest prayer that we have of Jesus.  It is a prayer of intercession, reconciliation and sanctification as Jesus approaches the shadowy period just before his arrest and crucifixion.

In the context of the prayer, Jesus prays for glorification, and intercedes for ALL people that they receive the eternal life promised by God.  Jesus claims to have finished the work that God has given him to do, and now prays to be reunited and restored to the glorified presence within the Godhead.  Humanity is God’s creation and Jesus came to earth to show humankind the way to be reconciled to God.  As believers in Jesus, we have received the truth in our belief, and have hope in the promise of everlasting life.

This passage is pretty thick, theologically, and there are many layers of revelation to understanding God.  One could dig for hours into this prayer alone and debate everything from Christology to Trinitarian theology.  However, regardless of how much we feel is revealed, God remains that great mystery that we will continue to try to unpack throughout our lives.  It takes prayer, presence & participation in the gathered community of God’s people (the Church), study and engagement of God’s Holy Word contained in scripture, and faith that is nurtured by these elements.

The call that I hear today is receive.  God has given us a priceless, glorified gift in Jesus Christ who continues to take care of us as his own.  God continues to offer the world a way to be reconciled to each other and to God’s self through him.  The question for me in the context of the prayer is, “what does that this gift of Jesus require of us?”  The answer to us, in this prayer of Jesus, is to receive God’s precious gift.

John 11:1-16 (NRSV)

Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.  Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill.  So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, "Lord, he whom you love is ill."  But when Jesus heard it, he said, "This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God's glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it."  Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, after having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.

Then after this he said to the disciples, "Let us go to Judea again."  The disciples said to him, "Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone you, and are you going there again?"  Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours of daylight?  Those who walk during the day do not stumble, because they see the light of this world.  But those who walk at night stumble, because the light is not in them."  After saying this, he told them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to awaken him."  The disciples said to him, "Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will be all right."  Jesus, however, had been speaking about his death, but they thought that he was referring merely to sleep.  Then Jesus told them plainly, "Lazarus is dead.  For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him."  Thomas, who was called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, "Let us also go, that we may die with him."

Glorified.  God will be glorified through Jesus in the most unexpected of situations.  Lazarus becomes a vehicle for that glorification, and the opportunity for the disciples to fall into a deeper belief.

Lazarus is the brother of Mary & Martha, and he is sick.  Jesus and his disciples don’t seem to be in a hurry to get to them after they received the message, and stayed back for 2 days.  All of a sudden, Jesus is ready to go to Judea again.  The disciples are quick to remind him that the Jews were ready to stone him the last time he was there (see yesterday’s passage).  Jesus tells his disciples that Lazarus has died, and implies that he will use this death to help them believe.

Thomas still doesn’t understand, but appears to be thinking about Jews that are ready to stone Jesus.  He tells the other disciples, “let’s go and die with him.”  Thomas is ready to go, regardless of the consequences.

Jesus has spent the past few days of readings narrowly escaping the ones that want to kill him.  Today, Jesus is ready to go back into the danger zone for the chance to use the death of his friend to glorify God.  Jesus is ready to take the risk to help his followers believe.

I feel the call today is trust.  Be trusting, like Thomas.  Thomas acts like he would follow Jesus to the ends of the earth regardless of what they ran into.  This implies a deep trust of Jesus, and a belief that he is who he has proven himself to be.  If we were to trust like this, then we may see the Christ glorified in the world.