Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.  The Glory of God—that seems to be the introductory focus of Jesus’ high priestly prayer.  And this little phrase seems to come up a lot in Christian circles today.  I bet that most of us probably hear it so much that we don’t even stop to think about it anymore. 

Just tune in to the local Christian radio station or read the latest Christian book and sure enough you’ll find it there.  Maybe some of you have even heard certain televangelists, you know the one’s with the big floppy bibles, talk about the glory of God and try to audibly capture its meaning in a big booming voice.  Or perhaps some of you have even heard a Lutheran Pastor give a sermon on the subject.  There are plenty of good texts in the lectionary for preaching about the glory of God.  No matter where we turn it just seems to be everywhere.

Despite regularly hearing about the Glory of God, I think it’s still important to ask ourselves, what do we really mean when we talk about the Glory of God.  It’s almost like one of those phrases that’s so over used, it’s hard to describe.  In normal usage, it most often seems to refer to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in all his unmasked divine glory.  A picture of the Lord of Heaven and Earth seated on his throne in heaven with all his power and might is likely what comes to mind.

And I actually think that this is what Christ has in mind when he speaks of the glory to which he is returning.  This is the glory which He and the Father shared in an unmasked way before the incarnation.  Just listen to how Jesus describes it and you will probably agree, “And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.”  This certainly does sound like the full unveiled majesty of God.

Now, many preachers and Christian writers tell us to look to this glory, to look to the Lord God in all of his splendor and majesty for comfort, much like Peter, James, and John did on the mount of Transfiguration.  But this unmasked glory of God is not something that really affords much comfort to the Christian.  What I mean is that God in all his unveiled power and might is really more terrifying to sinful human beings than he is comforting.

Just take the example of Isaiah.  When he had a vision of the majestic and all powerful Lord sitting on his throne in heaven, he just about died from fear, “Woe is me, for I am undone!  Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, The Lord of hosts.”  Now if Isaiah who is one of the greatest prophets in all the redemptive history feared the unveiled glory of God, how much more should we?  This makes it quite clear that seeing God face to face is actually a frightening thing, for even the smallest amount of sin cannot stand before him.

Now I could perhaps stop my sermon here having adequately discussed the unveiled glory of God, and maybe some of you would like a really short sermon.  But in our Gospel reading this morning, Jesus also speaks about the Glory of God in another way.  And it’s this way which I think is most important. 

And this glory to which Christ speaks is his own crucifixion and death.  Just listen to Jesus’ own words about this glory, “Father, the hour has come.  Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him.”

This may seem kind of strange to us, that the Glory of God actually has to do with the death of God’s own Son.  But it’s true, this also is the real Glory of God.  And it is the particular glory that offers us comfort unlike the unveiled glory of God that really inspires fear.

But perhaps some of you are asking yourselves, why is it that the death of Jesus is the very glory of God?  Well, there are several reasons and not the least of which is this: that it shows who God really is and this is Good News for you.  The cross is the place where you actually see God’s love for yourself and this eternal love is a most glorious and precious thing.

You see, you actually deserve to be the one who got crucified at Golgotha because you, like the prophet Isaiah, are guilty before God.  You are the one who is fallen in sin, who can no longer walk in the presence of the Lord as Adam and Eve did before the Fall.  You are the one who despite your best efforts cannot fully purge yourself of your daily sins or even the desire to commit those sins.  You under fallen creation deserve God’s wrath.

But the Good News for you is that the real glory of God doesn’t want you to stand condemned in your own sin.  For this reason, God has sent his own Son to set right what you and all mankind have set so wrong.  And the Son does this by making a sacrifice, a payment, which in the eyes of the Father is so pleasing that it is the perfect substitute for all sins.  This substitution at the cross, this mercy truly is the very Glory of God!

And not only does God reveal this magnificent glory to the entire creation with the death of his Son.  But this glory is personally applied to each and every one of you.  This is what Christ is talking about when he says that in you he is glorified.  Listen to his words, “And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them.”  Christ is not speaking about your Good Works, self-righteousness, or self-worth when he says that you glorify him.  What he is speaking about is the very fact that the work of the cross, the forgiveness of your sins is now applied to you by faith, and this forgiveness which is the very glory of God appears righteous in the sight of the Father and the Son.

And you can be sure from Christ’s prayer that this Glory of God really is yours—because Christ tells you that it is given to you when you bear the name of God.  And this name is not just any name—it is the very reflection of God’s being and all that he has done.  Where the name of the Lord is, there is his glory and his love, because the Lord is his name, just as Isaiah prophesies, “I am the Lord, that is My name; and My glory I will not give to another.”

And so it is that Christ prays that God’s glory through His name may remain in you when he says, “keep through your Name those whom you have given to me.”  It would be as if Christ had said, ‘Father may you keep those whom you have given to me, those who have believed in my name, who have received my work on the cross and who are now in your Name so that they may continue in your glory.’ 

And this prayer of Jesus is accomplished by the will of God when you receive the very name of the Lord in your Baptism.  For it is there where God’s name is placed upon you, where you are given the glory of God by receiving his love and the forgiveness of your sins.  There in those waters with the Name of the Lord, your old Adam is put to death and the new man is brought forth in the Glory of Christ.  It is there where you are made an enemy of the darkness and a child of the light.

So if you really want to see the comforting glory of God, you don’t need to look to heaven where the majestic Lord is seated.  All you need to do is look to your baptism because it is there where the glory of God, the cross of Jesus, is applied to you.  And through it you really do share in and reflect the very glory of God.

In Jesus Name.

Amen.

Vicar Mark Taylor