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And now, O Father, You Me with Your own self, with the glory which I had with You before the world was. – John 17:5
Before Jesus was arrested and crucified, He prayed that God the Father would glorify Him with God’s own “self.” God’s self, His being, is a holy, selfless love, which is His glory; a glory that is so radiant and intense, no man can approach it in his flesh (I Timothy 6:16). Yet, it is the glory that Jesus shared with His Father before His incarnation.
Jesus knew He was about to endure the greatest trial of His life. In order to fulfill His purpose as the Messiah and take the sins of the world upon His soul, fulfilling the prophecy in Isaiah 53:10, He would have to resist every natural instinct of His flesh to preserve itself. Thus Jesus prayed for the Father’s “self” to glorify Him. He was asking for the same selflessness that is the Father’s love that Jesus always had, but now needed to be exhibited and expressed on a whole other level.
Some people, when they look at images of Jesus hanging on the cross, see them as pictures of His humiliation and turn their heads away.
And there are also some people who look at those images and see a miraculous portrait of selfless love that enabled its bearer to die to save others.
As we witness the pain and agony that was accepted and endured for the benefit of mankind, we realize that Jesus’ prayer to be glorified with God’s selfless love was abundantly answered.
When we are facing trials that we feel are beyond what we can endure, let us remember to take our place beside Jesus in our own gardens of Gethsemane and pray that God will also adorn us with the selfless love that can help us get through anything in Jesus' name.
Copyright 2021 by H. D. Shively
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