The glory that comes from God

You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that testify on my behalf. Yet you refuse to come to me to have life. I do not accept glory from human beings. But I know that you do not have the love of God in you. I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me; if another comes in his own name, you will accept him. How can you believe when you accept glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the one who alone is God? Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; your accuser is Moses, on whom you have set your hope. If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But if you do not believe what he wrote, how will you believe what I say?
- John 5:39-47

In John's gospel, we are constantly being exhorted to understand that there is life in many dimensions, and that if we do not learn to perceive properly, we will fail to see that which we seek. We will fail to perceive that which we claim we are in search of, or that we need for our lives. Jesus clearly states there is a level of perception that even those who seek the scriptures for eternal life are failing to see. Even those who seek the scriptures for eternal life fail to see what those scriptures point to, what exactly they write about. He's talking about a kind of perception of reality that has to do with a spiritual level of life, an extra dimension added to "the facts." And if one does not see with eyes to see, one will fail to see what one searches for.

It is important to note the statements in today's readings about glory. Jesus says that the glory that is his does not come from human praise. It is not about aggrandizing the persona of Jesus as a human being alone. This is quite significant, because he also goes on to say that if he were merely a self-glorified person, then people would honor him. But the glory that comes from this other dimension, that requires a different sort of perception, eludes him in a world of those who do not truly see that which the scriptures point to. Jesus states that they do not know the Father, otherwise they would know him.

In the passage in today's epistle reading from Romans 2, we have a similar idea about glory:

Circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law; but if you break the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. So, if those who are uncircumcised keep the requirements of the law, will not their uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? Then those who are physically uncircumcised but keep the law will condemn you that have the written code and circumcision but break the law. For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is true circumcision something external and physical. Rather, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly, and real circumcision is a matter of the heart—it is spiritual and not literal. Such a person receives praise not from others but from God.

"A person who is a Jew is one inwardly, and real circumcision is one of the heart -- it is spiritual and not literal. Such a person receive praise not from others but from God." This again, is another passage affirming the notion that glory and our perception of what is good in a person relies on a level of perception that is tied to the spiritual, to a dimension other than the literal or the one we see in three dimensions. We cannot prove glory except through the sight that spirit and spiritual perception provides.

Do we look for the glory that comes through spiritual sight? I wonder how do we receive spiritual sight. Do we pray for it and are our prayers enough to be given this sight? I wonder how many of us today value spiritual sight at all - or is it relegated to just another one of those things that form an individual whim, a fantasy, or a myth someone made up long ago that has nothing to do with truth?