John 17:5, The Divinity of Christ

"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 am very confused about the divinity of Christ. If we are all children of God (which I do believe) what makes Christ more divine and more the child of God then the rest of us? Is it simply that he was more enlightened, or was she somehow really more divine just in his very being?
 

Comment:

It's important, in considering this important question, to use terms precisely. “Christ” is not another name for Jesus. “Christ” is the name we give to the Presence of God that is the true identity of all of us. “Jesus” is the name of the spiritual teacher who realized this true identity and was able to perfectly express it—to become “Jesus Christ”—as he calls us to do for ourselves.   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.)   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