Glorification of Christ

[Rev. Mathew K Muthalaly]

John 20:11-18

Some points to note that can be seen only in John’s gospel are

1. Mary crying at His tomb.
2. The 2 angels at his hand and feet.

Jesus is a good leader. He calls everyone by name.

Mary doesn’t recognise Jesus and asks for His body. It is not explicitly mentioned as to why she asks for the body. But here is some background. The Jews followed some funeral rites to the body of the dead. But since the day following Jesus’ death was the Sabbath, Mary must’ve come to His tomb to perform these rites following the day of the Sabbath. Jesus doesn’t answer her question, but calls out her name. She recognises His as her teacher. This is just as John 10:14 says, “I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.”

The glorification of Jesus Christ is exemplified by John.

In John 2, at the wedding at Cana, He says, “My time hasn’t come”. The time mentioned here is the time for his glorification. Many people put their faith in Him. It was not a general applauding of His work.

His glorification was in

1. Death
2. Resurrection
3. Ascension

Mary clung to Jesus Christ. This is because of her love for him. Even 3 days after his death, she was crying at His tomb. When Jesus says, “Don’t cling unto me”, He means His glorification is not complete. He is yet to ascend into His father’s home.

1. His ascension ensures His second coming - In John 14, (v1-3) keep your trust in the Lord. I’ll go to my father’s house and prepare the rooms there. I will come back.
2. The place for women in Jesus’ life – Our society is male dominated. We think he had only 12 disciples and all were men. But the bible does mention women among his disciples. There is no restriction to men alone in St. John’s gospel. The first person to see the resurrected God was a woman. Peter saw the empty tomb and went back.
1. Mary was the first person to witness resurrected God.
2. She was the first person to spread the good news of the resurrected God.
3. The grace of resurrection – She continues to weep. She turns around on hearing her name. Once she recognises Jesus, there were no more tears. She finds the Lord and all her sadness and sorrow has left her. When you meet Jesus, you’ll cease to be unhappy. You’ll start finding the joy in your lives. This is the grace of our Lord. He will speak to you in your sorrow. He will give us the hope.
   

John 16:20-22, Jesus says “You’ll cry. The world will rejoice. Your sorrow will cease and you’ll find happiness”. Jesus analogies this feeling to a woman’s labour pains. The labour pain of a woman is huge. But on seeing her baby, she forgets all her pain. Similarly, we will forget all our worries when we experience the joy when we meet Him face to face.

John 14:18-20 says, “I’ll not leave you alone...” There is another life at the end of this life. Because He lives, we will also live. This is the promise given to us. We are not living because of our capabilities. We live because He lived.

John 17 is called the high priestly prayer of Jesus Christ.