Hearing The Word

A weekly newsletter delivering context and insight into the Sunday Gospels.

Crucified, Glorified Flesh

~ Kelly Anderson, S.S.L., Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Biblical Studies for the Major Seminary, Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary + Ambler, Pa.

God’s glory was manifested at the theophany on Mount Sinai (Exod 24:16-17), and then rested on the tabernacle (Exod 40:34) where God “dwelt among them” (Exod 25:8). John’s Gospel begins by proclaiming that the enfleshed Son of God “tabernacled/dwelt among us” and “we have seen his glory!” (John 1:14). Thus, Jesus’ body, his human nature, is a theophany of God and the place where God dwells permanently “among us.”

Glory (doxa) usually translates kabod in the Hebrew which means “weighty” or “heavy,” thus that which makes someone important, such as wealth or honor. Regarding God, it means that which makes him impressive, which is his very being. God can give his “glory” to another, rendering that one “god-like.”

Thus, “to glorify” can mean: first, the communication of God’s divine being to another, thus divinizing him and giving him eternal life; second, showing the “weightiness” or true greatness of someone.

Let’s apply this to John 13:31-32:

“Now is the Son of Man glorified (divinized), and God is glorified in him (God’s greatness is manifested in Jesus). If God is glorified in him (if God’s greatness is manifested in Jesus), God will also glorify him (God will divinize Jesus) in himself (in “God’s self,”; he weds Jesus’ humanity to his own divine nature), and God will glorify him (Jesus) at once (in his death and resurrection).”

So, when Jesus accepts to die, his human nature is divinized and becomes a permanent theophany of God. Jesus glorifies the Father by revealing his infinite generosity, kindness, and mercy in sending his only Son to save us and fill us with “grace upon grace.”

Hence Jesus’ command to love is a “new” one. God had already commanded to love (Lev 19:18), but the “newness” is to “love as I have loved you” meaning to make a total gift. Jesus takes on the depths of our misery, shame, loneliness to save us from it, to divinize us, and to bring us into communion with our heavenly Father.  

Love That Models Christ



~ Michael Clymer

Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter & Paul + Philadelphia, Pa.

Love is a word that we use every day, and we mean love in different ways: I love my spouse differently than I love my friends, and I love my spouse and friends differently than I love music or food.   But what does Jesus mean when he says to love one another?

Jesus gives us the answer in how He loves us. His love for us is most evident when He sacrifices his life on the cross. Jesus invites us to love others in this same way - the cross is our model. To imitate Jesus is to give of yourself in service of others, to be willing to lay your life for another’s good, especially to lead others to Christ. We live in a culture that needs people willing to put others before themselves. Jesus’ command invites us to go “all in” when it comes to self-giving love. This love says: I am going to put my desires and my will aside to do what is best for my spouse, my child, my coworker, and yes, even those I don’t get along with; I am willing to love you even when I am tired or you don’t deserve it, and I am not going to expect any gratitude in return. This is when our love truly models Christ, and, when extended to those who may not deserve it, our love becomes mercy.

Answering the call to love as Christ loves, we will make Jesus present in the world, people will know that we are His disciples, and they will even see in us the joy that radiates from those who personally know and follow Christ. Jesus will give us all the grace we need to love others with the same love that He has for us.