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Greetings!
Now Is the Son of Man Glorified As we are about to step into Holy Week and walk with Jesus to His Cross, consider letting Jesus prepare you as He prepared His very first followers. One way to do this is to turn to the thirteenth chapter of John. You may want to spend some time there this week. Try different translations. Hear the Lord and let Him prepare you. In John 13, Jesus is preparing His disciples for His physical departure and spends some time explaining His glory. It becomes clear that for Jesus, "to glorify Himself" means the Cross. His presence known, Himself revealed--His glory is inseparable from the self-sacrificial love of the Cross. Now the Son of Man is seen for who he is, and God seen for who he is in him. The moment God is seen in him, God's glory will be on display. In glorifying him, he himself is glorified - glory all around! -John 13:31b-32 (The Message) Jesus is not just preparing His followers to understand the glory of the Cross; He is preparing them to participate in the glory of the Cross. They will be called to love one another and live a life that glorifies Him. They will be called to take up their cross even as they point to His cross. It has everything to do with finding our life in His death, being born of the Spirit, and letting His glory shine in and through us. "Glory" means so much more than "praise, honor and worship". The glory of the Lord is rooted in the idea of "bright, shining greatness, splendor". There is a powerful connection between light and glory. Consider the prologue to John: "The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world...but to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God...and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth" (ESV). The glory of the Lord is His Presence known, and it shines. Once we begin to grasp what His glory is, we begin to see more clearly what it is to "Glorify" Him. To glorify is to shine the light, to reveal, to make known in the truest sense of the word. When we glorify ourselves, we are making ourselves more visible, making ourselves known. When we glorify God, we are magnifying His greatness, we are pointing to all that is His glory - His greatness, His mercy, His love, all that He is, most visibly on the Cross. Lord Jesus, be glorified! I look forward to seeing you this Sunday and throughout Holy Week! Rob | 
THIS Saturday, April 16 ~ 11 AM - 2 PM
at the Pier at Garden City
