Devotion for the Last Sunday After the Epiphany (Ackerman)

Above:   Abraham and Melchizedek

Image in the Public Domain

Glorification

FEBRUARY 11, 2024

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Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning:

Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them,

that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of life,

which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ,  who lives and reigns

with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

—The Book of Common Prayer (1979), page 236

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Genesis 14:18-20

Psalm 110:1-4

Hebrews 7:1-3, 11-19

John 5:30-47

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The LORD has sworn and he will not recant:

“You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.”

–Psalm 110:4, The Book of Common Prayer (1979)

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Melchizedek, a Canaanite priest-king whose name means “Zedek is my king,” appears briefly and mysteriously in Genesis 14.  (Zedek was a Canaanite deity.)  The name “Melchizedek” recurs in Psalm 110, which identifies the monarch as a priest.  The Letter to the Hebrews associates Melchizedek with Jesus.

Jesus is a powerful figure in all of the canonical Gospels.  That power is more evident in deeds than in words in the Synoptic Gospels.  In the Gospel of John Jesus is considerably more verbose.  His plethora of words accompanies mighty signs.  Jesus accepts no glory from people (John 5:41), seeking to glorify God the Father instead, just as Abraham gives all glory to YHWH in Genesis 14.

This Sunday is traditionally the Sunday of the Transfiguration.  In the chronology of the Synoptic Gospels the Transfiguration occurs en route to Jerusalem the last time; Jesus is going to the city not to seek his own glory, but to obey and glorify God.  And, in the Gospel of John, the glorification of Jesus by God is his crucifixion.

Regardless of the ambiguous details of Melchizedek, most of which I have not written about because they are irrelevant to my main point in this post, the principle that we mere mortals should seek to glorify God, not ourselves, remains.  It is a counter-cultural message, for quite often we tend to praise those who seek their own glory.  That glory is fleeting, but God’s glory is everlasting.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

MAY 3, 2017 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT MARIE-LEONIE PARADIS, FOUNDER OF THE LITTLE SISTERS OF THE HOLY FAMILY

THE FEAST OF WILLIAM WHITING, HYMN WRITER

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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2017/05/03/glorification/

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