John 17:5 "So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory..."

"So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed" (John 17:5).

Question:

I love the metaphysical interpretations of Bible verses. So much of the Bible has come alive for me once more and as never before! This was Jesus' prayer and I think it is the ultimate prayer to pray. And though I believe all that Jesus did, I have the potential to do and more ... can I also pray this prayer? Did I also have glory with the Father before the world was? And what is the meta-interpretation of "glory"?

Comment:

This passage is from the final prayer of Jesus (John 17:1-26), the conclusion of his final discourse to his disciples in the Gospel of John. It is a powerful prayer, filled with the solemn and excited awareness that the power and presence of God are about to be made manifest in a way that Jesus intends to be clear, unambiguous and encouraging—a vivid demonstration of our innate Oneness with the divine that has been the point of all his teachings. (It's hardly his fault that his followers managed to miss the point in so many ways.)   Can you pray this prayer? Absolutely. Jesus was never trying to separate himself from us, but always to affirm that we are all one in the Christ, the divine energy that is our true identity, and his. In this passage Jesus is calling forth—and surrendering to—the Christ of his being; he is releasing the limitations of his human identity so that his eternal Spirit can shine unobstructed through the challenges that are to follow. It is as the Christ that he moves forward through the crucifixion—feeling the human pain and fear, but never allowing the pain and fear to define him. We can do the same whenever we face any kind of challenge—call upon, and surrender to, the Christ within us to express our spiritual glory.   Blessings!

Rev. Ed