What Jesus says here is spoken after Judas had left. It is a reminder to us that some instructions of Jesus are meant only for disciples. What follows is teaching about glorification. This instruction is of little value to those who are not disciples.
Jesus invokes a different term of relationship with the remaining disciples. He calls them “children.” This establishes a familial tie that is reserved only for disciples. While all of us are God’s creation, we are not all God’s children. “Children” is reserved for those who are submitted to God’s Lordship, through Jesus. “Children” establishes Jesus as being equal with the Father. When Jesus taught the disciples to pray, He taught them to call God, “Father.” Now, by referring to the disciples as “children,” Jesus makes it clear that the children of the Divine Parent are His children also.
Since this glorification is the goal of history, Jesus welcomes it willingly, joyfully, triumphantly. Some of us live under the false impression that God’s ultimate purpose in history is to make us happy and to make our lives free from pain. But that’s incorrect. The goal has always been God’s glorification.
The glory of our Lord is realized both in His suffering and in His resulting exaltation. The glory of God is achieved at a very high price. The Divine Parent will sacrifice the Son. The Son will lay down His life, dying on a cross and suffering separation from His Father. Jesus does not seek to be glorified apart from the Father, but in unity with the Father, in willing subjugation to the Father.
This is how oneness is achieved. This is the model that we are encouraged to follow. As Jesus willingly submitted to the will of the Divine Parent, we are charged to submit to the will of our Savior: “Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another. This is how everyone will recognize that you are My disciples—when they see the love you have for each other (John 13:35).”
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