The Glory
John 1:1-14
Leonard Slatkin, music director of the National Symphony Orchestra, was asked a hypothetical question: “What would happen if one of the world’s great violinists performed incognito before a traveling rush-hour audience of over 1,000 people?” “Let’s assume,” Slatkin said, “that he is not recognized. . . and just taken for granted as a street musician. . . Still, I don’t think that if he’s really good, he’s going to go unnoticed. He’d get a larger audience in Europe . . . but, okay, out of 1,000 people, my guess is there might be 35 or 40 who will recognize the quality for what it is. Maybe 75 to 100 will stop.” “So, a crowd would gather?” he was asked. “Oh, yes.” The interviewer concluded, “Thanks, Maestro. As it happens, this is not hypothetical. It really happened.” It happened with former child prodigy Joshua Bell, who now at 39 is an internationally acclaimed virtuoso. Earlier this year Bell had filled the house at Boston’s stately Symphony Hall, where you had to pay over $100 for a good seat. But on January 12 of this year, at 7:51 a.m., in the middle of the morning rush hour, Joshua Bell was just another beggar in the Washington DC Metro Subway Station, competing for the attention of busy people on their way to work. He positioned himself against a wall beside a trash basket, wearing jeans, a long-sleeved T-shirt, and a Washington Nationals baseball cap. From a small case, he removed a violin — a rare Stradivarius made in 1713, and worth over $4 million. Placing the open case at his feet, he began to play. For the next 45 minutes, in the D.C. Metro, Bell played Mozart and Schubert as over 1,000 people streamed by. Most of them hardly took notice. Only 27 people stopped, who threw a grand total of $32.17 in his violin case. The Washington Post said that it was “an experiment in context, perception, and priorities — as well as an unblinking assessment of public taste. In a banal setting, at an inconvenient time, would beauty transcend?”
They videotaped the performance, part of which you can see on YouTube. In the video, one man riding the escalator turns to see from where the music is coming. His name is John Picarello. He hit the top of the escalator just after Bell began his final piece, a reprise of “Chaconne.” In the video, you see Picarello stop dead in his tracks, locate the source of the music, and take up a position past the shoeshine stand, where he does not budge for the next nine minutes. A reporter, telling him only that he was being interviewed about his morning commute, asked if anything unusual had happened to him on his trip into work. Of the more than 40 people interviewed, Picarello was the only one who immediately mentioned the violinist. He said, “There was a musician playing at the top of the escalator at L’Enfant Plaza.” “Haven’t you seen musicians there before?” the reporter wanted to know. “Not like this one.” “What do you mean?” “This was a superb violinist. I’ve never heard anyone of that caliber. He was technically proficient, with very good phrasing. He had a good fiddle, too, with a big, lush sound. It was a treat, just a brilliant, incredible way to start the day.” Picarello knows classical music. He is even a fan of Joshua Bell — but he didn’t recognize him.
Greatness is not always recognized or appreciated. John, in his gospel, makes the amazing statement concerning Jesus: “He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him” (John 1:10-11). Even when the divine glory was shining out of Jesus, the world did not see it or understand it. But John said, “We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only” (John 1:14).
The first thing I believe John is saying is: The Word dwells among us. John identifies Jesus as the Word. The invisible became visible. The untouchable became touchable. The unknowable became knowable. Spirit became flesh. It is the greatest miracle the world has ever known. When John says in his Gospel that “the Word became flesh,” he used a Greek word with which those in that culture were familiar. It was the word logos. In Greek philosophy logos was the rational principle that gave order to the universe. This abstract principle became equated with God. But the abstract word becoming a spoken word would do the world little good. The world was full of words already. John used logos to say that this divine power became real, living flesh and blood. If the Word became just more words, then we would have Scripture, but not a real person who could make the Scripture come alive. But this Word became flesh. He stepped out of the words of Scripture so that we would have more than a prophecy or a moral code, we would have God himself standing among us — Emmanuel.
The Bible says, “For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people” (Hebrews 2:17). This is the mystery and the glory of Christ. When John says that Jesus “made his dwelling among us,” the word he uses is eskenosen (skÐnwsen) which means to pitch a tent. It literally means, “he pitched his tent among us.” He came to live among us and set up his dwelling with us. He threw in his lot among us.
The original place of worship for the Hebrews in the Old Testament was a tent, or what they called a tabernacle. The Tabernacle was the place where God dwelled. It was called the “Tent of Meeting” where people could communicate with God (Exodus 27:21). For the Hebrews it was important that God’s presence resided in a tent, or tabernacle, rather than a building. A building cannot move, but a tent can. To the Hebrews it meant that wherever they went in their wanderings, they knew that God would go with them. They could move away from a building, but they could not move away from the tabernacle, for it would go with them. And when John says that Jesus “tabernacled among us,” he is saying that Jesus’ body was a walking sanctuary with the presence of the living God inside. He lives with us and goes wherever we go.
The interesting thing about the Old Testament Tabernacle was that the glory of the Lord could be seen over the part of the Tabernacle called the Holy of Holies. This cloud of glory was understood to be the very presence of God. By day it was a glowing cloud to protect the people from the desert sun and intense heat. By night it was a pillar of fire to give the people warmth during the cold desert nights as well as give them light and protection. The brilliant cloud of glory was called the Shekinah. The Shekinah glory was what appeared on Mt. Sinai when Moses went up to get the Ten Commandments. It was so overwhelming that the people were afraid and did not want to go near the mountain. It was this cloud of glory that parted the Red Sea and led them through the wilderness.
The second thing that John is saying is: The Word is the glory of God. John said, “We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” To associate the term “glory” with Jesus was saying something about his divine character. And when John uses the term “glory,” he is not talking about Christ’s future coming in glory. He is emphasizing the appearance of the long-awaited glory that had now become present in the world. What is John thinking about? He is thinking of Jesus’ baptism when the glory was seen as the heavenly dove descended on him and the voice from heaven spoke just as it had from Sinai. John is thinking of the many times he saw Jesus heal people. He is thinking of the times the glory of God was seen as Jesus fed thousands of people by multiplying the fish and bread. He is tying it to how Moses miraculously fed the people in the wilderness. John was there when the widow’s son (Luke 7:11-15), Jairus’ daughter (Mark 5:22-43), and Lazarus (John 11:1-44) were raised from the dead. He saw the glory!
John was there when Christ was transfigured before his eyes. He saw the glory as Christ’s face began to shine like the sun and his clothing become as bright as light (Matthew 17:1-10). Moses and Elijah appeared to Jesus, representing the law and the prophets. Matthew says, “While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!’” (Matthew 17:5). The cloud is once again seen, just as it was in the Sinai peninsula. Peter was also at the transfiguration, and when he saw the glory radiating from Jesus, he suggested putting up what the NIV translates as “shelters”: one for Moses, one for Elijah and one for Jesus. Actually, the word used in the Greek is “tent,” or “tabernacle.” Peter wanted to build a new tabernacle where a “Tent of Meeting” would once again be a place where people could meet and talk with God.
John is also thinking of the glory of the resurrection. Many times Jesus appeared to his disciples and others. John is thinking of the ascension, as Jesus ascended into the heavens, returning to the Father, while they looked on in amazement. To be sure, John had seen God’s glory, and it was Jesus, the Word of God.
The third point that John makes is that: The Word shares his glory. This is the incredible thing about the grace and love of God. He does not keep his glory to himself. He shares it with his children. The Bible says, “He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thessalonians 2:14). The apostle Peter says in his letter: “To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder, a witness of Christ’s sufferings and one who also will share in the glory to be revealed” (1 Peter 5:1). Human beings in their present earthly state continually fall short of God’s glory. Romans 3:23 says, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” But his glory is a gift and is to be manifested in his people, who are to be the new tabernacle of God: “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20 NASB). People are to see the glory of God in us: “In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). Paul wrote: “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). Paul tells us: “Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe” (Philippians 2:14-15). He writes to the Corinthians saying, “And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18). Paul wrote the Romans saying, “Now if we are children, then we are heirs — heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us” (Romans 8:17-18). That is one of the most amazing and humbling truths in all of Scripture. What a wonderful and loving God we have!
The word for glory in the Hebrew is the word kabod. It is a word whose root meaning is “heavy.” It has weight. It is something real. It has substance. To have the glory of God is to be real, authentic. God attributes worth to you. This is often something that we resist in our minds since it seems proud, or something beyond us. And most of all, we are not sure we want to have to live up to this. But this is what God’s ultimate plan is for us. He wants his glory to shine through us to a dark and unbelieving world. It is the answer to what so many are looking for today, although they reject the very thing that would fill the void in their lives and lead them in the way which would bring significance to their living. People today are no more comfortable with glory than the Hebrew people were at Sinai.
Max Lucado tells the story about a tribe of people who lived in a dark, cold cave. “The cave dwellers would huddle together and cry against the chill. Loud and long they wailed. It was all they did. It was all they knew to do. The sounds in the cave were mournful, but the people didn’t know it, for they had never known joy. The spirit in the cave was death, but the people didn’t know it, for they had never known life. But one day they heard a different voice. ‘I have heard your cries,’ it announced. ‘I have felt your chill and seen your darkness. I have come to help you.’ The cave people grew quiet. They had never heard this voice. Hope sounded strange to their ears. ‘How can we know you have come to help?’ ‘Trust me,’ he answered. ‘I have what you need.’ The cave people peered through the darkness at the figure of the stranger. He was stacking something, then stooping and stacking more. ‘What are you doing?’ one cried, nervously. The stranger didn’t answer. ‘What are you making?’ another shouted even louder. There was still no response. ‘Tell us!’ demanded a third. The visitor stood and spoke in the direction of the voices. ‘I have what you need.’ With that he turned to the pile at his feet and lit it. Wood ignited, flames erupted, and light filled the cavern. The people turned away in fear. ‘Put it out!’ they cried. ‘It hurts to see it.’ ‘Light always hurts before it helps,’ he answered. ‘Step closer. The pain will soon pass.’ ‘Not I,’ declared a voice. ‘Nor I,’ agreed a second. ‘Only a fool would risk exposing his eyes to such light,’ said another. The stranger stood next to the fire. ‘Would you prefer the darkness? Would you prefer the cold? Don’t consult your fears. Take a step of faith.’ For a long time no one spoke. The people hovered in groups covering their eyes. The fire builder stood next to the fire. ‘It’s warm here,’ he invited. ‘He’s right,’ one from behind him announced. ‘It is warmer.’ The stranger turned to see a figure slowly stepping toward the fire. ‘I can open my eyes now,’ she proclaimed. ‘I can see.’ ‘Come closer,’ invited the fire builder. She did. She stepped into the ring of light. ‘It’s so warm!’ She extended her hands and sighed as her chill began to pass. ‘Come everyone! Feel the warmth,’ she invited. ‘Silence!’ cried one of the cave dwellers. ‘Dare you lead us into your folly? Leave us. Leave us and take your light with you.’ She turned to the stranger. ‘Why won’t they come?’ ‘They choose the chill, for though it’s cold, it’s what they know. They’d rather be cold than to change.’ ‘And live in the dark?’ she asked. ‘And live in the dark,’ he replied.”
It is a wonderful, but frightening, thing to come to the Glory.
Rodney J. Buchanan
Amity United Methodist Church
September 30, 2012
rodbuchanan2000@yahoo.com
