Giving God Glory
Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come. Give glory to your son, so that your son may glorify you, just as you gave him authority over all people, so that your son may give eternal life to all you gave him. Now this is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ. I glorified you on earth by accomplishing the work that you gave me to do. Now glorify me, Father, with you, with the glory that I had with you before the world began.
“I revealed your name to those whom you gave me out of the world. They belonged to you, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you gave me is from you, because the words you gave to me I have given to them, and they accepted them and truly understood that I came from you, and they have believed that you sent me. I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for the ones you have given me, because they are yours, and everything of mine is yours and everything of yours is mine, and I have been glorified in them. And now I will no longer be in the world, but they are in the world, while I am coming to you.”
It is justly asked, how the Son can glorify the Father, when the eternal glory of the Father never appeared in the form of man, and because of its own Divine perfection, does not increase. But among men this glory was less when God was only known in Judea; and therefore the Son glorified the Father, when the Gospel of Christ spread the knowledge of the Father among the Gentiles. "Glorify the Fatherr Son, that the Fatherr Son also may glorify the Father"; i.e. "Raise Me from the dead, that by Me the Father may be known to the whole world."
Then Jesus unfolds further how the Son glorifies the Father; "As the Father have given Him power over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as the Father have given Him." "All flesh" signifies all mankind. And this power which is given to Christ by the Father over all flesh, must be understood with reference to His human nature.
If then the Son so glorifies the Father as the Father have given Him power over all flesh, "that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him", and, "This is life eternal, that they may know You," it follows that Jesus glorifies the Father by making the Father known to all whom the Father have given Him.
Knowing God is life eternal, the more we advance in this knowledge, the more lasting advancements we can make in this life. In life eternal we shall never die. Where there is no death, there will then be perfect knowledge of God; there will God be most glorified, because His glory will be greatest.
參考 References:
Catena Aurea (St. Thomas Aquinas)
Tractate 105 on the Gospel of John (St. Augustine)
“Doctor’s Diary” Ep044
A Tale of Three Cities: Cantonese Opera Evangelization Songs