John 17:1   After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: "Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.

 

  

When we think of ‘glorifying' someone, we tend to think of exalting them, letting them be seen in bright light, standing out. Jesus has come to the end of his ministry and knows that the next phase of the divine plan is his death and resurrection. We don't tend to think of anything glorious about Jesus' crucifixion. It was a demonstration of human violence and injustice at its peak, yet the truth is that at that moment he was becoming the redeemer of the world as he took our sins on himself.

 

The only difficulty about that was that virtually no one, at that moment, realised that this was what he was doing. Most of his disciples fled into hiding and quite obviously thought it had all gone horribly wrong. The thought of resurrection was just beyond them – until it happened! Even after it had happened, they struggled to believe it, but gradually the light began to dawn on them, gradually they began to realise that Jesus was who he said he was, the unique Son of God.

 

When he ascended into heaven and sat at the Father's right hand, all heaven acclaimed him. One day he will return to earth and every human being will acclaim him. The process of glorifying Jesus came in stages but in each stage more was revealed and more and more the Father was glorified or honoured. Praise Him!