"GLORY" - Matthew 3:13 - 17; John 1:14 - 18
A Sermon by Alex Evans, Pastor
Second Presbyterian Church, Richmond, VA
From Sunday, January 12, 2020
Texts: Matthew 3:13-17; John 1:14-18
“GLORY”
The gospel stories – Matthew, Mark, Luke, John – which give us the story of Jesus’ life, teachings, miracles, death, and resurrection, move along at a quick pace. It was just some days ago when we were singing “Away In A Manger,” celebrating the birth of Jesus, singing “O Come, All Ye Faithful.” Today, we have already heard the story of Jesus’ Baptism – and it is not an infant baptism: “Jesus came from Galilee to John at the river Jordan.” He was an adult – who came out of the water, and suddenly the heavens opened and the Spirit of God descended, like a dove, and then the voice from heaven: “this is my son, the Beloved.”
In a matter of weeks, we go from Jesus’ birth, . . . then his baptism, . . . and in a few more weeks we are speaking about his death and resurrection. It all moves along at a quick pace.
Our second text today is once again from John’s gospel, chapter 1. John’s gospel, you recall, begins with a most poetic Prologue. No birth story. No long genealogy. No drama with characters and movements. Mostly, it is proclamation – “the Word became flesh.” Those four words provide power packed information: God – the God of the universe, the God who is before all things and after all things and in all things - becomes a human being. We are reading today from verses 14-18. Listen:
14And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. 15(John testified to him and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’”)16From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.
This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
“The Word . . . became flesh . . . . and lived among us.”
Let’s think a bit about these words to help us grasp the importance of this proclamation. First, the Word became FLESH. The Greek word is “sarx” – flesh. Flesh bleeds. Flesh bruises. Flesh is about the most graphic way to talk about what humans are made of: skin and bones, blood and guts. Have you ever - do you ever - think of God in fleshy terms? I doubt it. We think of God as Spirit. We think of God as the opposite of flesh. We think as God over, above, beyond. Yet John wants us to imagine the almost unspeakable, impossible possibility – the drastic condescension of God – the Word became flesh! God leaves God’s heavenly splendor to descend into infinitely lesser life – with us, for us. John wants us to realize this truth: when we confront Jesus – we are confronting God in the flesh!
Second, this en-fleshed God, incarnate God, . . . “lived among us,” sometimes it says “dwelt among us.” That Greek word more accurately is something like “pitched his tent” among us. God does not just show up, God gets onto the ground with us, into the mess of life with us. Not on a throne, God is getting dirty with us, sleeping in a tent next to us. Here is the point: the Absolute . . .becomes relative; the Almighty, . . . a baby.
Do you like Westerns – you know – the film genre – as in Western movies? This dates me – but along with my brothers – we liked to watch Westerns – cowboys on horses – good guys and bad guys. Well, you may know this: a characteristic feature of American Western movies was that the cowboy hero always came from outside of town. The happens in the classic “High Noon” which first came out in the 1950’s and remains one of the highest rated movies ever. The hero comes from out of town to save the day. This happens in the Clint Eastwood movie, “Unforgiven,” in the 1990’s. The town, distraught over big trouble, calls on Eastwood at his hog farm, outside of town, to get him to come to town to help, to safe, to make things right.
Ah ha! That is like the gospel – the Hero for all the world comes from as far outside – heavenly places - to right up close – the Word became flesh and pitched a tent for us; the Divine – human; the Eternal – temporal; the Immortal – mortal; the Infinite – finite. Immense Descent! (see D. Bruner, John, p 34, 53)
Then, it says, “and we have seen his GLORY, the GLORY as of a father’s only Son, full of grace and truth.”
GLORY.
GLORY. That is kind of a churchy word – a loaded word – a Bible word.
Think about this: GLORY – in its both noun and verb forms – is one of the large, horizon-filling, joyous, awe-filled words in Scripture. But it is hard to define – how do you define immense joy and deep praise? How do you define majestic moments that also bring healing and hope? How do you really define the coming of God into the mess of life?
GLORY is what the angels sang to the shepherds in the fields, so they would know about this awesome event happening in the world!
GLORY is what we say and sing when we – as we did today – confess our sins - that God forgive us, God loves us, God strengthens us to begin again.
GLORY is what we do when we give our lives and our gifts to God. The Doxology – is the singing of GLORY. “Doxa” is the Greek for GLORY.
GLORY is a word that somehow links together all kinds of things – honor, beauty, majesty, God . . . and gratitude, praise, jubilee, and joy! It is about relief and hope and celebration. It is about exclamation and affirmation – God is present. God is at work and all we can do is rejoice and re-align our lives. GLORY means God is present in a powerful way doing powerful and important things. GLORY is often full of light and goodness, changing everything around it.
But GLORY goes even deeper and becomes even more significant, especially as we read it in this verse: “and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.”
The God of the universe who comes into our midst in Jesus – the Word made flesh – when we see his GLORY – what do we see? What do we do?
Some of the earliest commentators on this passage want us to know – when we see his GLORY – it intends to be the GLORY of the cross. Jesus is a person from God, a great teacher, an alluring presence, a Spirit-person. But more than that, when we see Jesus, see his GLORY, we also see everything that Jesus brings as God in the flesh: evil and death are abolished – that is what the cross shows us; the curse of darkness and despair lose out to the power and promises of God – that is what the cross is about; demons run away and our sins are forgiven – that is what the cross is about; nothing can separate us from the love of God – that is what the cross is about. We do not just see a nice guy, an engaging teacher, a Spirit-person. We see his GLORY – God is present in a powerful way doing powerful and important things – bringing about the reign of God, the full hope and light of God to redeem our lives and redeem the world. (see Bruner, p. 54)
And it goes on the say, “from his fullness we have all received grace upon grace.”
Grace, you remember is how we have faith. “By grace, . . . faith.” We have been touched by the presence and Spirit of God in such a way that we are lured into a life of faith. Because of grace, “our hearts are restless till they rest in God,” as St Augustine put it. Because of grace, we are drawn to the GLORY of God and God’s purposes in the world. And it is “grace upon grace” – we are not just given grace so we can live by faith, grace also gives us eternal life. Grace upon grace is how we are to think about our lives – we belong to God; we are lured into godly life; we are given eternal life – nothing can separate us from God’s love; we are called into community – which is so very important for life; we are forgiven for our sins. Can you feel the power and importance of this? When we see his GLORY – from his fullness we have all received grace upon grace.
And guess where grace and GLORY always lead . . .
The theologian Karl Barth shares one of my favorite, forever quotes: “Grace and gratitude belong together like heaven and earth. Grace evokes gratitude like the voice and echo.
Grace follows gratitude as thunder follows lightning.” (Dogmatics IV, 1)
Grace – Gratitude – Grace – Gratitude. . . .
When we see his GLORY, and receive grace upon grace, our lives intend to be altered. How should we live when we SEE God’s GLORY – GLORY as of the Father’s only Son, full of grace upon grace? GLORY always involves, always leads to gratitude and gracious living.
John Pavlovitz is a pastor and writer whose insights and blogposts have given me so much to think about in recent weeks. His recent post relates, I think, to what it means to see God’s GLORY, to receive grace upon grace, and how GLORY intends to alter our lives. Listen:
If you profess to be a follower of Jesus, I’m not concerned with your politics and I don’t care about your doctrine. I’m not interested in the Scriptures you can recite or the prayers you utter out loud. Show me a working theology of empathy. Show me that you actually (care) about people: not just Republican people or American people or Christian people or white people—but the disparate parade of human beings in every way you encounter them, in every condition they arrive, with whatever backstory they’ve lived through. You care about people!
If you tell me you’re a Christian, be someone who, like Jesus—looks at the crowds and has a compassion for them that propels them into proximity with their pain. Because if you aren’t deeply burdened to live from a place of expansive, sacrificial, selfless love toward your neighbor, not moved to alleviate anguish or reduce suffering, not compelled to leave people better than you found them—honestly I’m not sure what the point of calling yourself a Christian is.
That’s what all my reading and prayer and ministering and living as a Christian have yielded: following Jesus should leave me more compassionate, not less. It’s really that simple.
As far as I can see, it’s ridiculous to say I care about Jesus while not caring for the people placed in my path. I am called to live the greatest commandment, not to make any single nation “great.”
I think most people walking the planet understand this, whether they’re Christians or not. They too get the gist of Jesus, and they see there is no bullying or malice or violence there. They recognize the disconnect between love and enmity when it shows up in the neighborhoods and on the timelines and in their living rooms—and they smell putrid stench of hypocrisy a mile away.
I believe in a God of abundance. I can’t comprehend a Christianity that sees others as in competition with me for jobs or healthcare or a home, because an infinite maker has infinite resources—and because I’m supposedly trying to emulate a Jesus who was the greatest expression of that abundance. (See JohnPavlovitz.com – January 6, 2020)
God’s abundance!
The Word became flesh . . . and lived among us; we have seen his GLORY . . . and received grace upon grace.
God’s GLORY is so awesome and so real and wonderful that we are strengthened and moved to new ways of living, new ways of being, new ways of serving in the world – like Jesus. That is our calling.
And how much our world – right now in this place – needs us – those we see God’s GLORY – and receive grace upon grace?
We, friends, seek to open our hearts . . . and live with compassion and care, joy and justice, peace and purpose toward all that God intends for all people everywhere.
Real GLORY changes us.
Real GLORY focuses us.
Real GLORY moves us to live and serve toward the glorious purposes of God.
GLORY be to God! AMEN
Prayer of Commitment: Holy God, we believe; help our unbelief. And may your GLORY abound in, with, and through us! Amen.
Alex W. Evans, Pastor, Second Presbyterian Church, Richmond, VA preached this sermon during Sunday morning worship on Sunday, January 12, 2020. This is a rough manuscript.