Glorious Easter

Easter is glorious!

I hope you’ve enjoyed our time in John’s gospel over the past 2 months.  I can assure you that as a preaching team we’ve been loving this deep-dive into Jesus as John shows us his time in the Temple at the Feast of Tabernacles.

Now we turn our attention to events roughly 6 months after those we’ve explored together – Jesus returns to Jerusalem, is arrested and then killed. And rises again on the third day.

How are we to understand all these things? One of the themes that John lays out for us is that of “glory”. He opens up the gospel by telling us that in the Incarnation “we have seen his glory” (John 1:14). It’s an obvious reference back to that incredible encounter Moses has with the glory of God on Mt Sinai (see Exo. 33:18). Moses ends up not getting what he asked for – the glory of God passes before him and he must be shielded from it (Exo. 33: 22-23).

Yet now John tells us “we have seen his glory…”. How? Well, he goes on, “glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). In Jesus the Son, John tells us, we’ve seen the glory of the Father  - and it’s full of grace and truth. The Father displays his grace and truth most clearly in Jesus, the Son.

So how do we actually see this glory? John doesn’t leave us guessing. Through the gospel we’re shown a number of signs which reveal Jesus’ glory, the first of which is at the wedding in Cana where Jesus turns water into wine (John 2:11). The disciples begin to believe in him. As the gospel progresses we see more and more signs. Jesus also begins to talk about his own glory, yet always mentioning the Father when he does. In our sermon series we saw him say,

“If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing.
It is my Father who glorifies me…”

(John 8:54).

The climax of John’s gospel is, obviously, the Cross and Resurrection of Jesus. And so it’s no surprise that this becomes the moment where the theme of glory also comes to it’s highest point. On the night before he will die Jesus prays and opens up his prayer with these astonishing words,

“Father, the hour has come;
glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you…”

(John 17:1)

The “hour” is the hour of his death. And it is in his death that the Father will fully glorify himself by glorifying the Son. But the glorification of Jesus, when it arrives, is not like any expectation of glory that we might have. We would rightly think that God’s glory is about his stupendous power, his amazing presence. It’s an unapproachable glory, surely? It’s the very “Godness” of God fully on display! Remember, Moses had to be shielded from it lest he be blown away.

So it is so surprising to see Jesus nailed to a cross and dying a horrible death. Yet this is the hour when the Father glorifies himself in the Son. Which leads us to one shocking but revealing conclusion:

Do you want to see God in his full glory? Do you want to see the very “Godness” of God on full display in a manifestation of extreme power? Then look to the Cross of Jesus – this is where the Father glorifies himself in the Son, where the glory of God is on full display. It is a display of grace and truth. The truth of who Jesus really is – the one who fully reveals the Father. And the grace of God perfectly demonstrated in the willing sacrificial death of the Son.

The Cross is not the end of this display of glory. It is rapidly followed by the Resurrection and the Ascension, but they cannot happen without the Cross coming first.

Too often we are seduced by what the world thinks is impressive. We look for glory in all the wrong places. Easter shows us that the most glorious thing ever starts with the death of Jesus the Son.

May this Easter be a glorious one for you as you contemplate the glorious death and resurrection of Jesus.

David Ould
Senior Associate Minister