We hear Jesus today, speaking to us, saying,
“The Lord commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness.”
Giving God the glory. What does that mean? There are many
people who just love to “give God the glory” and how I understand it is: first,
they do something nice or unselfish, then, if asked about it, they will simply
say that God get’s the glory for it.
On the surface, this seems legit. God has all the glory
anyway so of course you would agree that all good things come from above and
you would also want to give God credit instead of boasting in our works. That’s
just called being humble. This gives the appearance of our having a passive
role and God, the active.
But what are you really giving to God? If He already has all
the glory, can you give Him more? Also, why are you only giving God the glory
when good things happen?
Is God not worthy of glory when He sends us trials? But,
that would defeat the purpose of believing that God is love; that He is only
around and responsible for happy-happy, joy-joy things.
If you are truthful with yourself, you will see that giving
God the glory in this way is selfish, egotistical, and un-biblical. It is not
God’s glory you are lifting up in your works, it is your own. You want to feel
good and you want to look Christian doing it.
Allah akbar is a phrase we may all be familiar with. It
means Allah is greatest. Subhan-allah would be Arabic for “give glory to Allah”. And the list including all
those who offer glory to some god, in the same way, goes on and on and on. With
everyone offering glory to their own god, does ours even get any?
Repent. God does not
want part of the glory and neither does He want a sin-filled glory that sinners
offer. Consider the dishonest manager of the Gospel. What is praised by his
Lord? It is not good works nor is it glory given. It is a job well done.
However, the dishonest manager’s prudence is no prudence. In
fact, he fails completely and neglects to collect his Lord’s debts fully. But,
it is exactly in this shrewdness that he is praised. Why? Because, by it, God
will reveal mercy, not sacrifice.
Jesus says that He glorified the Father on earth having
accomplished the work that the Father gave Him to do. And in the same prayer,
He demands that God glorify Him. This is a might backwards from our giving
glory to God, no?
Here is Jesus, demanding God glorify Him. Why? Because the
Father has promised to Glorify the Son and the Son has fulfilled the glory of
the Father. You see, God’s glory was never ours to begin with. The glory of the
Trinity fills only that which it encompasses and that is the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Spirit.
Jesus is glorified upon the cross. You could almost say
that, in order to truly “give God the glory”, you would have to have a hand in
crucifying the God-man, Jesus.
If you were serious about giving God the glory, you would
need to want to take the place of those roman soldiers and nail Jesus upon that
tree yourself; you would want to replace the Pharisees’ false witness with your
own false witness, in order to put Jesus, the Christ, to death.
This is because the glory of God resides with the Son, sent
to atone for the sins of the whole world, on the cross. In the dishonest
manager’s foolish shrewdness, the true nature of his Lord is revealed: that He
is self-sacrificial and forgiving and he is praised for it.
In your sin, your Savior is truly revealed. Not that you
continue in willful sin, but that your sinful nature continues, and in your own
dishonest managing of God’s glory, your Redeemer is shown to be the most
merciful in granting full pardon and remission of all your debts to Him.
The Glory of God hangs on the cross. The Glory of God
suffers and dies in order to purchase you. The Glory of God rises again, from
the dead. The Glory of God sits at the right hand of the Father, in Glory, so
that you may share in God’s glory.
The glory of God is a gift. Being baptized into the death
and resurrection of Christ, you are now bathed in this glory, that only the Son
has. Having heard the life-giving word of the Cross, you are clothed with the Glory
of God.
The Sacraments are where God’s glory is given, not just to
us, but also to God. We receive God’s glory, through His Son, but also, in our
receiving these things from the Holy Spirit, we show that God’s promises are
true; that He keeps His Word, and that they are for us, simply by taking and
eating. In doing so, God gets the glory.
How can this be? Because it is not just water; it is not
just words; and it is not just bread and wine. These are the promises of God.
This is where heaven meets earth and earth must repent of its sinfulness and be
forgiven. For, Jesus has not come for the righteous, but for sinners.
So give glory to God for all things. Give glory to God in
your sinfulness, for it is not about you, but about Jesus Who absolves you. It
is about you believing in the words and promises of God. And these words and
promises, found in baptism, the Gospel, and the Lord’s Supper, are how God
works in this world.
Jesus will only reveal His Glory to His Church, for she is
His beloved bride. So, it is only with her and in her Divine Service that He
truly wants His glory to be known. In the Sacraments, our Lord shows His glory
in sacrificing Himself completely and giving it freely.
For whoever believes these words: “given and shed for the
forgiveness of sins” along with bodily eating and drinking, has exactly what
they say: “forgiveness of sins.” In this light we say, glory be to God, for in
offering His Son and baptizing us into His Son, He has done all things well.
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