". . .[Jesus] looked toward heaven and prayed: 'Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.'" (John 17:1, italics mine)
The Father's completed glorification of the Son—His resurrection, ascension, and placement at God's right hand—came after the completion of the Son's glorification of the Father:
unadulterated oneness,
absolute submission,
death on a cross.
But go back and really ponder this verse a moment more. Even with the anticipation of His own glorification, still, Jesus' overwhelming desire was that His Father be glorified. In John 17:1, it's as if Jesus prays, I desire to glorify You, Father, and because of this, I know You will glorify Me; but even in your glorification of Me, my prayer is that it will ultimately glorify You.
Undoubtedly, with radical pervasiveness, God's glory consumed Jesus' earthly life.
A reading through the Gospels will certainly testify that no matter the cost to Himself, the glorification of the Father, reflected in Jesus' daily life, is what mattered most in Christ's earthly mission. It was His daily, continual mindset.
And what did the glory of the Father look like in the Savior's everyday life as He walked and lived among men? Exactly how was God's glory displayed through His only Son? It was displayed in Jesus' humility and submission; in His intentional, continual oneness with the Father; in His absolute obedience to His Father's words; in His pouring out and giving of Himself in unselfish love for the benefit, both earthly and eternal, of mankind; and in His unyielding resolve that His great sacrifice, His unequaled suffering, was the requirement for humanity's salvation.
Right now as I sit and type these words, I'm struck by some hard, candid questions: Am I really about the consumption of the Father's glory in my personal sojourn? Is it my genuine desire to bring Him glory, every minute of every day? Do I want to operate at all times according to His Word and ways and indwelling voice? Or, do I desire to bring Him glory, of course, but just on my own terms in ways I prefer? Can I honestly say that I'm more concerned about a consuming—yes, even radical—pervasiveness of God's glory in my own life than I am earthly comfort and contentment and temporary gain? So difficult, yet so pressing and necessary, are these confrontational questions that I can't escape from asking myself in this contemplative moment.
Fellow sojourner, if we want to truly live life like our Lord lived His—which should be our aim for this one life we've been gifted—then you and I, every single day, must confront ourselves with this question:
Your eternal glory, Father, or my temporary, earthly gain?
Yes, a hard question to ask and a harder question to honestly answer. But I believe it's the warp and woof query of whether, despite sacrifice of self's motivations and agenda, we desire—or really don't—to daily live as a surrendered disciple in authentic engagement and partnership with the person of Christ and the Gospel's proclamation, or merely a blessed Christian recipient on his or her way to Heaven.
