In John’s Gospel, we hear Jesus say, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and God will glorify him at once. My children, I will be with you only a little while longer. I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:31-33a, 34-35. This made me stop and ponder the meaning of the word glory – a manifestation of power and/or might. In scripture, this happens in a few different ways. For instance, we read about God’s glory being manifested in physical phenomena like a pillar of fire, a cloud settling on the top of Mt. Sinai, and the like. We also hear stories of the Israelites regularly defeating larger and more powerful armies with God’s help. In addition, when Moses asks to see God’s glory, God tells him: “I will make all my goodness pass before you.” These seem like easy to understand examples based on the above definition of glory.
When we turn to the New Testament, however, we start to understand that God actually defines glory in a very different way. In fact, when you look at the larger context of this passage, the stories surrounding this one, you start to see that God’s glory is made manifest in Jesus’ passion and death. While the overall text includes the resurrection, the primary focus is on his death on the cross; his being raised up on the cross. God’s power and might is revealed in Jesus on the cross. This is one of those times that we see how God’s ways are not our ways. Isaiah 55:8-9. No human would think to express power and might in weakness.
Is it any wonder that the “Jews” of Jesus’ time struggled to understand the glory of God hanging on a cross? It is difficult to see past the horror of the cross, to see God’s glory being made manifest in Jesus’ infinite love and mercy. Even today many people fail to see God’s glory in his sacrificial love on the cross. Many only see the rejection and humiliation, not the love behind his willingness to be tortured and murdered by those he created without punishing them. They don’t see the blessings received by those who believed in the gift of eternal life purchased for them in his life, death, and resurrection. Only God would reveal his glory in love instead of power and might.
Now that we understand how God’s definition of glory is different from our understanding, we can also see that his definition of love transcends our understanding. Human love is often described as an “emotion, a sentiment, or personal attraction. (Lewis, 347). God’s definition is sacrificial love. Whereas human love often looks to how something or someone makes them feel; to how others are creating for them a sensation that they experience as love, God’s divine love is “practical, dynamic, and demanding.” (Lewis 347). It is for the benefit of the other, not for self. This is important because if we do not take the time to understand God’s love, if we only love as humans love, we will fall short of following his commandment to love as he loves.
While I don’t normally mix theology across Gospels in order to respect the beauty by which each author expresses the good news, I think this is a good opportunity to do so. Matthew’s Gospel says Jesus came to fulfill the law, not to abolish it. Mt 5:17. The theme of love was not new to the Jews. In fact, when we ponder the Ten Commandments we see that they are concrete ways of loving God and neighbor. However, as we see in the Pharisees and other Jewish leaders at the time of Jesus, the Jews spent more time focusing on their “dress, diet, rituals,” and other observances of the law to externally express their lived relationship with God. (Lewis, 347). While these outward signs helped Gentiles know that a person was an Israelite, a child of God, they fell short of the spirit of the OT law of love.
In Jesus, we see the fulfillment of the law of love in the way that he radically changed our understanding of love by making it other-focused, even to the point of death. No longer is covenantal living solely expressed in our observance of the ten concrete examples of love. His love goes way beyond these examples. We are no longer solely set apart by our outward practices of diet, dress, and rituals. We are also called to set ourselves apart by loving others as Jesus loves. We are called to be known by our other-worldly practices of love.
In closing, I want to point out one of the most remarkable phrases in this passage. Jesus knew that the disciples were struggling. Just like us, their human concepts of glory and love prevented them from fathoming the radical ways in which Jesus re-interpreted these concepts in his life. He knew they would stumble in their confusion, and tenderly reassured them by calling them his “little children.” He knew they would abandon him. He knew how they would struggle, but despite their “misunderstanding, ignorance, and failures,” they always remained his little children. (Moloney, 385). We, too, remain his little children as we learn to live this radical way of life. We, too, will make mistakes and stumble in our confusion, but with the help of the Holy Spirit, little by little we will be the means through which God reveals his glory, his love, in our time and space.
In Christ,
dw
Inspirations:
Dianne Bergant and Robert J. Karris, The Collegeville Bible Commentary: Based on the New American Bible with Revised New Testament (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1989), 1004.
Scott M. Lewis, “The Gospel according to John,” in New Testament, ed. Daniel Durken, The New Collegeville Bible Commentary (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2009), 346–347.
Francis J. Moloney, The Gospel of John, ed. Daniel J. Harrington, vol. 4, Sacra Pagina Series (Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 1998), 21, 385–389.
George R. Beasley-Murray, John, vol. 36, Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas: Word, Incorporated, 1999), 246–248.
Scott Hahn, ed., “John’s Gospel,” Catholic Bible Dictionary (New York; London; Toronto; Sydney; Auckland: Doubleday, 2009), 461.
Scott Hahn, ed., “Glory,” Catholic Bible Dictionary (New York; London; Toronto; Sydney; Auckland: Doubleday, 2009), 314.
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