Here we are again. Another Lent. Another wilderness wandering. Another start to reflecting on the world via my very sporadic writings. It seems Lent has been the time I feel most compelled to write. Perhaps because of the introspective nature of the season. Maybe it’s just the experience of taking the United Methodist Photo-A-Day challenge and turning it into a post. All I know is here we are again and here I go again.
Day 7: Glory
“Christ the Risen Lord is King.” These are the words that accompany a beautiful stained glass triptych in the church I serve. You can see the artist’s interpretation of Jesus as King in the picture I have shared as part of this post.
Here is the thing, when we depict Jesus as King (he is, even when the art makes him look like a white dude who could easily appear as one of the kings in a deck of cards), we are saying something about how we relate to Jesus. By elevating Jesus to King, we often lift him so high as to be wholly Other. Separate. Distinct. Different. Not much at all like us.
There is something comforting in this. Christ the King can protect us. Christ the Ruler is in charge. Christ the Lord is powerful and can benevolently care for his subjects. There is a hierarchy here that makes sense. Jesus is much more than me. He should be the one sitting on a throne ruling and dispensing wise judgment. It is the image a couple of disciples point to when they ask about sharing this elevated position. “Appoint us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” (Mark 10:37)
Glory as in power and status. I can hear these followers asking, “When you finally get to be in charge, Jesus, let us help you run things. Let us enjoy being connected to your power.”
While I certainly understand the glory imagined by these disciples, Lent seems to be highlighting a different understanding of Jesus’ power, status and glory. The King who suffers. The Lord who serves. The Ruler who continually points to a greater power. It is Jesus’ humility on display in the wilderness, a posture which will mark his every word and action as he begins to teach about the Kingdom of God.
Paul will say it this way in Philippians 2:5-11:
Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, assuming human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a human, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross.
Therefore God exalted him even more highly and gave him the name that is above every other name, so that at the name given to Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Humility. Emptying oneself. Dying for others. This is the root of Jesus’ glory; a glory that gives glory to God. Not a power over others, but a power with and for others. This is the “glory” I feel compelled to seek and practice, not just for these forty days, but for whatever days I have left. “To God be the glory!”
Life is better together,
Shawn
Big Rubber Band Ball 