Glorifying the Name
Gospel of John: 12:28 Father, glorify your name." Then a voice came from heaven, "I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again." 12:29 The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, "An angel has spoken to him."12:30 Jesus answered, "This voice has come for your sake, not for mine.
God’s glory is mysterious attribute of God. It is written in the Psalm 8, Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory in the heavens.
Although it is stated in the same psalm that God has made humans a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor and God made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet: all flocks and herds, and the animals of the wild, the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas. Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth, still all these embedded human qualities, including the ruling role over the creation by mostly our intellect, quarry the great temptation in themselves.
The great temptation is the old one, we want to become entities like God, unlimited in power, and unlimited in glory. Thusly or secretly we claim or at least some of us on Earth desire glory, moreover divine glory.
It may seem that God gave us some initial glory, however history witnesses that at least some individuals wanted to vindicate more glory to themselves, also trying to wipe away the projected image of God’s glory from the human hearts.
Because the temptation of glory is a fundamentally primordial one, we should be a bit careful how much glory we ascribe to ourselves, as a human nation, and as particular individuals.
It is preferable, despite the wording of PSALM 8, that we ascribe all available glory to God.
We might be not that wrong, if we think that amount of the available glory is infinite, especially, when we are contemplating about God and God’s glory. Still, even if the amount is infinite, we have to ascribe all and all glory to God.
It is a well-known Gospel story, when asked Jesus openly and publicly on the market place, that dear Master, tell us whether, should we pay taxes to the Roman Emperor or not?
The Question was tricky and deadly dangerous in the same time. If he had said, yes we should, then he would have lost all his reputation immediately, as a teacher of the nation. If he had said, no, we should not pay, then he would have been arrested on the spot charged with sedition.
However, as it is written in the Gospel, that Jesus dodged their trick and asked them, that “ ‘Show me the tax money.’ They brought to him a denarius. He asked them, ‘ Whose is this image and inscription? ’ They said to him, ‘ Caesar’s.’
Then he said to them, ‘ Give therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.’ ”
Thus, Jesus gave them a marvelous answer which became a slogan and an ancient saying. Nonetheless, it is a common mistake to think, that Jesus surrendered to the emperor or deliberately avoided the edge of the sword in this tricky question.
The wisdom Jesus presented them was infallible and uncompromising. We can start with the tribute money, which is called in the King James Bible, the tribute penny.
He could have said, I am sorry folks, I do not have a single tax coin, maybe you have one.
And bingo, of course they had it, and it was a so called Roman denarius, a silver coin, where the number ten was included in the name of the denarius, and it was established, that the silver denarius should be given in exchange for ten Roman pounds of bronze. According to the customs, the ruler’s image and title was supposed to be minted on the coin.
This denarius, the so called tribute penny, had the image of the emperor Tiberius and his title, reading: “Caesar Augustus Tiberius, son of the Divine Augustus”, claiming that Augustus, the former Emperor was a god ”, thus claiming that Tiberius is a son of a god. The fiscally accurate Roman Empire demanded the taxes to be paid in Roman currency, and the Roman currency declared that the Emperor is god. Maybe it could be a no-brainer in Rome, but not in Jerusalem.
Just having a single coin in the pocket of an observing Jewish person, it would have been immediately a breach of the Ten Commandments, where the first commandment says that You shall not have other gods before me, and where the second commandment says that You shall not make unto you any graven image.
Thus, Jesus advised the audience to give back the idolatry money to whom it belongs, the pagan idolatrous Emperor.
Jesus did not say that we have to endure evil tyranny, because it must be obvious that, if we give God everything, than the emperor will have nothing.
Similarly, if we attribute all glory to God, which must belong to God, even if the amount of the available glory, then we have to attribute all and all glory to God.
There will be no glory left in our hearts for the emperor, no glory left for the king, no glory left for princes, for the dukes, for the popes, for the cardinals, for the archbishops, for the presidents, for the prime ministers, for the mayors, for the generals, for navy admirals, for jetfighter aces, if we attribute all glory to God only.
Even the last crumb of glory belongs to God.
It is not only that we used to admire great leaders, artists, successful people, giving them some glory, taking away from God’ s glory, even if it is not possible in the ultimate reality, but we also often try to grab some glory for ourselves, as particular individuals. May God grant us the humility to learn and acknowledge that all glory belongs to God, and we have to sanctify, hallow and glorify God’s name, as it is written, Hallowed be Thy Name, as Yours is the Kingdom, the Power and the glory. A.
