The 42nd word in my Lent lexicon is:
GLORY.
Glory is not necessarily the first word that would come to mind when we think in the darkness, fear and betrayal that mark Holy Week. In today’s gospel, as Jesus celebrates the Last Supper with his disciples, Judas prepares to betray him. Jesus is fully aware of this, and indeed tells him to get on with it.
It seems that already Jesus has a clear idea of where all this is heading, even if his disciples are still in the dark. We certainly are all too familiar with where this all leads, and there is very little in it that speaks to us of any human understanding of what glory might mean:
“Now has the Son of Man been glorified, and in him God has been glorified. If God has been glorified in him, God will in turn glorify him in himself, and will glorify him very soon.”
He calls us to look again at “GLORY”, and at what true glory might actually mean. It couldn’t be clearer that it doesn’t mean anything we might recognise. It’s not connected to fame, wealth, recognition or celebrity or anything else our culture might recognise as glory.
The glory he speaks of can only come from one source, a wholehearted commitment to doing the will of the Father. As we move through Holy Week It becomes more and more obvious that Jesus has made that commitment. We know what that looks like for him. In calling us to follow him he invites us to us to discover what that would look like in our own lives and to make the same commitment.
Where are you being called to glorify God in your life this Holy Week?