The Gift of Suffering

John's gospel has always been my favorite.  In it I seem to get a deeper glimpse of the heart of our Savior.  I especially appreciate that John invites us in to that most intimate of times - the Upper Room where Jesus and His beloved disciples celebrated the Passover meal before His death on the Cross.  What was going through His mind?  What was on His heart?  We know because John records His prayer:

"Father, the time has come.  Glorify your Son that your Son may glorify You...I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work You gave Me to do...

And now Father, glorify Me in Your presence with the glory I had with You

before the world began."

(John 17)

When Jesus talks about glorifying the Father and thus receiving glory, He includes His obedience and suffering as revealing that glory.  The Hebrew word for 'glory' is kavod and it means what is weighty or heavy, what is important, powerful and strong.  It is used to describe honor, dignity, wealth, splendor and majesty.  If someone possessed 'glory' he was laden with all these weighty, heavy things.  But Jesus turned the idea of glory into something entirely different!

In His prayer He is looking to the cross and His obedience to the Father, even unto death, as His glory.  His glory then was not an easy thing to carry.  Weighty in majesty, yes; but also weighty in submission.  Heavy in honor yes; but also heavy in pain.  Powerful and strong, but like a lamb led to the slaughter.  How heavy and weighty His glory must have weighed upon Him!  So heavy that He sweated blood in the Garden.

Further on in His prayer in the Upper Room Jesus  prays for us:

"I pray also for those who will believe in Me...

I have given them the glory that You gave Me,

that they may be one as We are one."

(John 17)

He has given us that glory - that weightiness.  In Christ we are weighty with riches, power and position.  But as Jesus' glory was heavy and not easy to carry,  we should expect no less.  When we go through difficult times and struggles and yet remain obedient to the Father's will, loving Him even when it hurts to do so, we are sharing in Christ's glory.  Listen to these words from the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Philippians:

"For it has been graciously granted to you on behalf of Christ

not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for Him..."

Graciously granted -  as a privilege, a gift - to suffer for Christ.  Jesus prayer to His Father that night started out "Father, the time has come..."  Has the time come in your life too?  Is there anything in your life that prevents you from glorifying the Father through obedience, even though it may seem too heavy or weighty for you?  Then, "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross...and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."