Jesus’
Return as the Son of Man in His Father’s Glory
In
the Hebrew Bible glory (כבוד) in relation to God implies what makes God
impressive to man as the force of His self-manifestation. In LXX, the term
glory (δοξα) means “divine honor”,” “divine splendor,”
“divine power,” and “visible divine radiance,” and refers to God’s divine
nature or essence or mode of being either in its invisible or its perceptible
form. For example, in Ez. 1:26 and 28, God’s glory appears in human form,
sitting on the throne. In our text, the term “glory,” while it represents the
divine mode of being similar to the Hebrew Bible, it also a relational term,
since it functions as a window onto the father-son relationship. In Mk 8:38,
Mark claims that the Son of Man will return at the Parousia with his “Father’s
glory.” When Jesus makes these promises, he is claiming is participation in the
same glory as God’s and thereby, in the divine mode of being. In the following
Transfiguration story, Jesus’ transfigured appearance with glory visually
demonstrates his sharing with God’s divine mode and God’s voice audibly
witnesses Jesus’ divine Sonship. This idea of Jesus’ participation in God’s
divine mode of being has been explained by ark in many ways: Jesus is called
the Lord (1:2-3), shares the same prerogative of forgiving sins as God, belongs
to the heavenly hierarchy with angels and is recognized by demonic powers. In
the Caesarea-Philippi context, however, Mark nails a point to the wall that the
glory should be revealed, not through magnificent manifestation of miracles or
power, but through his suffering and death.
In
the Jewish traditions, glory has often been given to humans, so that they
become the heavenly citizens along with angels. Similar to biblical heroes and
the righteous martyrs who are expected to participate in the glory, Jesus’
faithful followers are also guaranteed to share in this glory, when he collects
his people at the Parousia (cf. 13:27). In this line of thought, Jesus’ glory
as the paradigm of glory in Mark is almost identical to Paul’s understanding of
Christ as God’s glory and the image after which believers are being transformed
“from glory to glory” (2 Cor 3:18). (Simon S. Lee, Jesus’ Transfiguration and
the Believers’ Transformation [Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen Zum Neuen
Testament 2.Reihe 265; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2009], 44-45)
