I have glorified You on the earth
Meditation on (John 17)
On Great Thursday evening, the Last Thursday, as the Lord Jesus was on His way to Gethsemane—and from there to trial and crucifixion—He spoke to God the Father as though presenting a report on His ministry on earth:
“I have glorified You on the earth.”
Here the Lord Jesus presents a report to God the Father at the end of His incarnation on earth. He says to Him: “I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do” (John 17:4).
We ask the theological question: what does it mean for a person to glorify God?
Obviously, when you glorify God, you do not give Him glory. You do not add to His glory, for God lacks nothing and needs no glory from you. The Lord Jesus Himself said: “I do not receive glory from men” (John 5:41).
This reminds me of those who claim that God created humans to glorify Him! Certainly not—God is not in need of any glory from mankind. Before humans were created, He was glorified by His angels; and before He created the angels, He was already glorified—how?
God is glorified by His divine attributes: glorified in His eternity, in His omnipotence, in His infinity—unlimited by space or time; glorified in His greatness, in His indescribable beauty, in His holiness, in His wisdom, in His boundless knowledge, and in His creative power. In short, God’s glory is in His divinity.
So what does “I have glorified You on the earth” mean?
It means: I have revealed Your glory to the people; I have made it known to them. I have made them recognize Your glory—not that I have given You glory or added to it.
And this leads us to another question: does glorifying someone mean giving them glory that they did not possess? I say frankly: if a person’s glory is not within them, then the glory others give from outside is meaningless. The psalmist said truly: “All the glory of the daughter of the King is within” (Psalm 45), though she is arrayed in garments interwoven with gold.
As an example, what does it mean when someone receives an academic degree?
Does the college or university give them something they didn’t have, or does it testify to their academic level—bachelor’s, master’s, or doctorate? It is called a certificate—a testimony to what they already have.
If this is true with humans, how much more with God! When we say we glorify God, it means we acknowledge His glory. That’s also what the Jews meant when they said to the man born blind: “Give glory to God” (John 9:24)—meaning, acknowledge God’s glory, don’t deny or blaspheme Him.
Likewise, when we say in the Psalm, “Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but to Your name give glory” (Psalm 115:1), we mean: manifest Your glory to people. This meaning appears clearly in another psalm: “The heavens declare the glory of God; the firmament shows His handiwork” (Psalm 19:1).
The way the heavens glorify God is by declaring His glory, revealing His works. So too, when we glorify God, we declare His glory, we reveal Him to others, we speak of Him.
This is why the Lord Jesus said to the Father: “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world” (John 17:6). He revealed a new name of God to them—that He is the Father, their heavenly Father who loves them.
Before this, they did not know Him as such. Their relationship with God was one of fear, as when Adam said: “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid” (Genesis 3:10). But Jesus made them know His name: “God is love” (1 John 4:16). He taught them that God is their Father and that His Spirit dwells within them.
“I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them” (John 17:26).
Yes, this is how Christ glorified the Father—by revealing Him to people who did not truly know Him. “O righteous Father, the world has not known You, but I have known You” (John 17:25). And He says that eternal life itself is to know God: “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God” (John 17:3).
This is your mission, my brother in service: to make your students and everyone around you know God—not only the God of books, but the living God who is in them and with them, though they may not perceive Him. As St. Augustine said: “You were with me, but in my wretchedness, I was not with You.”
This is the God of whom the Gospel says, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it” (John 1:5). John the Baptist also said, “There stands One among you whom you do not know” (John 1:26).
Thus we glorify God—by helping people know and love Him. That’s what Christ did when He said, “I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it” (John 17:26).
You are the heavenly Father who knows their needs and gives before they ask: “Your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things… and all these things shall be added to you” (Matthew 6:32–33). You are the Father who wrote on the gates of heaven: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you” (Matthew 7:7). You feed the birds of the air and clothe the lilies of the field more beautifully than Solomon in all his glory (Matthew 6:26–29).
You are the Father who “so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
My brother in service, you may teach people about God—but which God do you reveal to them? The one in your own mind. May it be a true image! For if you give them a distorted image of God, your service does not glorify Him. You must know Him in order to make others know Him. As Jesus said, “I have known You, and I have declared Your name” (John 17:25–26).
Many servants still do not know God truly, yet try to teach others about Him. Do you know God—truly and deeply, with a love that unites you to Him? Have you said with St. Paul: “What things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ… that I may gain Christ” (Philippians 3:7–8)?
And is the knowledge you give others about God one that leads them to love, or is it merely intellectual—stopping at the mind, not reaching the heart or a life with God?
Service is not mere knowledge. Knowledge alone does not glorify God. Jesus said, “I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them” (John 17:26).
Through this love, they enter the kingdom of God—He reigns in their hearts and is glorified in them. Through love they live with Him, and their lives become God’s work. Others see their good works and glorify their Father in heaven (Matthew 5:16).
So—does your life glorify God? Does your service glorify Him? Is God the center of all you do and say? Do you reveal His name to others and bind them to His love? Or is your service detached from God—mere information, meetings, and activities called “service”?
Can you truly say with Christ, “I have glorified You on the earth”? Ask yourself: how is God glorified through you? Has His kingdom spread through your work? Have people known and loved Him through you? Have you been a vessel God works through, a mouth His Spirit speaks by?
How did Christ glorify the Father? He made Him known and loved. He presented to people the beautiful image of God, for He is “the image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15), “the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person” (Hebrews 1:3). “No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him” (John 1:18).
They saw in Him holiness itself. “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). They loved God in Him—the Holy One “separate from sinners, and higher than the heavens” (Hebrews 7:26), who said, “Which of you convicts Me of sin?” (John 8:46).
Does your life reflect God’s image and glorify Him? Or do you cause stumbling, so that others blaspheme the name of God because of you—as St. Paul said, “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you” (Romans 2:24)?
How beautiful it is when God’s children glorify His holy name through their exemplary lives, giving the world a radiant image of their faith.
Christ glorified the Father through His teachings and also through His miracles, revealing the power of God—“Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:24). He said, “The Father who dwells in Me does the works” (John 14:10), and “the works which the Father has given Me to finish” (John 5:36). Thus the Father was glorified in Him.
I do not ask you to be a miracle-worker like Christ, but know that the servant whose prayers are answered glorifies God.
Above all, Christ glorified the Father on the Cross—by fulfilling divine justice and becoming the sacrifice for sin, showing the greatest act of love and redemption: “For God so loved the world…” (John 3:16).
The Father was glorified on the Cross, and the Son was glorified too. He showed that suffering is the path to glory: “If we suffer with Him, we shall also be glorified with Him” (Romans 8:17). Christ was glorified through obedience—“He became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the Cross” (Philippians 2:8).
We too can glorify the Father through obedience, love, and sacrifice, in the image of Christ crucified.
But the worst kind of service is when a servant seeks to glorify himself, not God. Then it is no true service, for the self has replaced God! Such a servant seeks recognition and praise instead of humility. Yet Christ said, “If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all” (Mark 9:35). Even He “did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28).
John the Baptist gave us a noble example when he said: “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). St. Paul said: “That the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us” (2 Corinthians 4:7). And St. Peter, when he healed the lame man at the temple gate, said, “Why look so intently at us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?” (Acts 3:12–15).
But King Herod, who accepted the people’s praise and “did not give glory to God,” was struck by an angel and died (Acts 12:21–23).
Finally, if we glorify God on earth, He will glorify us in heaven: “Whom He justified, these He also glorified” (Romans 8:30). “If we suffer with Him, we shall also be glorified with Him” (Romans 8:17). “The God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory” (1 Peter 5:10), will give us “the crown of glory that does not fade away” (1 Peter 5:4), bringing “many sons to glory” (Hebrews 2:10).
How much glory God has given us—He who created us from dust in His image, made us temples of His Spirit, and granted us spiritual gifts!
So—are we glorifying God on earth, He who has glorified us so greatly?
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By His Holiness Pope Shenouda III
Published in Watani Newspaper, January 18, 1998
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