Church of the Holy City

Whoever Serves Me Must Follow Me

Whoever Serves Me Must Follow Me
Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete
March 25, 2012

Jeremiah 31:31-34 John 12:20-33 Psalm 119

Last Sunday I talked about the name of Jesus. I said that the name of Jesus is everything that Jesus stands for. It is all He lived out; it is all He teaches; it is all He is. This morning we heard about the name of God. Jesus says, “Father, glorify your name!” And a voice is heard from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again” (John 12:28). In the story this doesn’t make a lot of sense. When had God glorified His name? What name was glorified? Was it Jehovah? Was it Zeus (the story begins with Greeks asking about Jesus)? Was it Jesus? I think that in the light of this story, God’s name is one and the same as Jesus. Glorifying God’s name means the glorification process of Jesus Christ. Jesus’ glorification was the process by which the human Jesus became fully united with God in one Person.
The story opens with Jesus talking about His glorification. He says, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified” (John 12:23). In many places, Jesus refers to Himself as the Son of Man, as He does here. And clearly, Jesus is going to be glorified. So when Jesus says, “Father glorify your name,” He means for God to glorify Himself. Jesus is the name of God. Jesus is the perfect embodiment of God’s love. God is love. So we can say that God’s name is love. Since God’s name is love, and since Jesus is the perfect embodiment of love, Jesus is the name of God. Jesus is the body of God the Father. God the Father is Jesus’ soul. When Jesus rose from the dead, soul and body became perfectly one. God the Father became fully and completely united with Jesus. The risen and glorified Jesus Christ is now one with His Divine origins. Father and Son are one in the body of Jesus Christ. This is what the Glorification means. Christ’s glorification is at the heart of everything Swedenborg writes about.
The passage we heard in John talks about this process of glorification. Jesus uses the image of a kernel of wheat. He says that if a kernel of wheat falls to the ground, it produces many seeds. This is one image of Christ’s glorification. After Jesus’ resurrection, He took on a new power to save humanity. This is why the kernel of wheat produces many seeds if it falls to the ground. Jesus’ complete union with God the Father gives Him a power to reach us that He didn’t have before His glorification.
This is also why Jesus says ,”But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself” (John 12:32). Clearly, being lifted up means Christ’s resurrection. And it is with the resurrection that Christ and God the Father become fully united into one Person. Again, with the resurrection and glorification of Jesus Christ, Jesus has a new power to reach humanity. So the kernel of wheat must fall to the ground and be lifted up. Jesus must be glorified.
What, then, is this process of glorification? The process of glorification is the process by which Jesus united His human nature and His Divine Nature completely. This is a wondrous and awesome process. At the heart of Jesus’ glorification we find His utter and complete humanity and we find His utter and complete divinity. When I read about this, and when I contemplate it, I am carried away in ecstasy with the miracle that Jesus’ glorification was.
According to Swedenborg, Jesus was born just as an ordinary human is. He grew up just as an ordinary human does. He had a physical body the same that an ordinary human does. Swedenborg writes the following startling words,
That the Lord might make the human divine, by the ordinary way, He came into the world; that is, it was His will to be born as a man, and to be instructed as a man, and to be re-born as a man (AC 3138).
The process of glorification is the process by which Jesus made His human divine by the ordinary way. I must immediately clarify this statement. There is no ordinary way to make humanity divine. But there is an ordinary way for a human to be regenerated. And it was this process of human regeneration that Jesus followed when He made His humanity divine. Let me explain a little.
Jesus was born as a man. This recalls our Christmas story. He was instructed as a man. Jesus had to learn the law the way we have to learn it. Jesus wasn’t born with all knowledge. Recall the words of Luke. Jesus parents find the young Jesus in the temple with the teachers of the law. And listen to what Luke says! “They found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions” (Luke 2:46) Jesus was learning. When we read this passage, we usually emphasize the astonishing wisdom Jesus showed at the temple. We pass over entirely that Jesus was listening and asking questions. This section of Luke concludes with another emphasis on Jesus development. “And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men” (Luke 2:52). Again, we so often pay attention to Jesus’ favor with God and men and pass over completely those few words, “And Jesus grew in wisdom.” Jesus grew. Jesus went through all the stages of human development that we go through. And Jesus, too, had to be re-born, or regenerated, as we are. Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist. Jesus’ humanity had to put off the impurities of its earthly nature and put on the Divine Humanity. That process is called Jesus’ glorification.
We follow an analogous path as we are regenerated. We need to learn God’s law. We need to put off earthly loves and desires and accept God’s love. This is why Jesus says, “Whoever serves me must follow me” (John12:26). We must follow the path of glorification that Jesus walked, which for us is called regeneration. Our regeneration is a dim image of Jesus’ path of glorification. So Swedenborg writes,
Hence it may be seen that the regeneration of man is an image of the glorification of the Lord; or, what is the same, that in the process of the regeneration of man, may be seen in an image, although remotely, the process of the Lord’s glorification (AC 3138).
But there is a huge difference between our regeneration and Jesus’ glorification. Jesus made Himself divine by His own power. God’s Divine Love fully entered Jesus’ Human form. We, on the other hand, are regenerated by God’s power. We accept God’s love into our lives. It may look like we are doing the works, but God is the one who is making us new. God regenerates us, Jesus glorified Himself.
that the Lord might make the human divine, by the ordinary way, He came into the world; that is, it was His will to be born as a man, . . . and to be re-born as a man; but with the difference that man is re-born of the Lord, whereas the Lord not only regenerated Himself, but also glorified Himself, that is, made Himself divine; and further, that a man is made new by an influx of charity and faith, but the Lord, by the Divine Love which was in Him and which was His (AC 3138).
It was God’s Divine Love that took human form in Jesus Christ. And the human Jesus became fully united with His origins in Divine Love when He was fully glorified. Divine Love came to earth physically in the body of Jesus Christ.
And we are regenerated when God’s love finds a place in our souls. We follow Jesus, when we allow God’s love to come into us, even as Jesus became Divine Love itself. Jesus calls us His friends when we do what He commands, “You are my friends if you do what I command” (John 15:14). And His gentle command is simply to embody God’s love. It means to love in all the areas of our lives. “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you” (John 15:12).
Showing love in all the affairs of our lives is also at the heart of the Law in the Old Testament. This law of love is the new covenant that God will make with the human race. We heard about it in our reading from Jeremiah. This law will not be written down in any book. It will be written in our minds and on our hearts as we come to embody Jesus’ love.
“This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel . . .” declares the LORD.
“I will put my law in their minds
and write in on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
No longer will a man teach his neighbor,
or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’
because they all will know me,
from the least to the greatest,” declares the LORD.
It is this law of love that is the delight of the Psalmist. This is the word of God that the Psalmist hides in the depths of his heart. Seeking God with all his heart through God’s law, the Psalmist says,
I seek you with all my heart;
do not let me stray from your commands.
I have hidden your word in my heart
that I might not sin against you.
I rejoice in following your statutes
as one rejoices in great riches.
I delight in your decrees;
I will not neglect your word.
My soul is consumed with longing
for your laws at all times.
Your statutes are my delight;
they are my counselors (Psalm 119).
And this law is our great delight. For only when we are living God’s law of love will we find true happiness. This is what is meant by following Jesus. We follow Jesus when we have His law of love written in our minds and on our hearts. Then we are Jesus’ friends. Then, where Jesus is, we, His servants will be (John 12:26). Then, we walk the path that Jesus walked. Then, our feet tread in the footsteps of our Lord and Savior. Then, as Jesus was glorified and unified with God, we will be regenerated and united with Jesus Christ.

PRAYER

Lord, as you did of old, glorify your name in our lives. Even as you glorified your humanity and made it divine, so we ask that you regenerate us and make us angelic. You trod the winepress alone and cleared a pathway for us to follow. Give us the willingness and the vision to plant our feet firmly on the path that you walked. Even as you became one with your Divine origins, so we ask that you make us one with yourself–that your infinite love find a place in our finite hearts. Write your ways on our hearts. Teach us your laws. May we find the delight in your word that the Psalmist of old sang about.

Lord, we ask for your peace to descend upon this troubled world. Where there is conflict and war, let there be understanding and peace. Inspire our leaders, and the leaders of other nations to govern their people with compassion and with your Holy Love. Where there is famine and thirst send your generosity. Where there are natural disasters, may help come from good neighbors and from compassionate governments. Where there is want and unemployment, lend your patience and hope.

Lord, send your healing love to all those suffering in body and soul. We ask you to give the gift of health to all in need.