Glory and Suffering

Two seemingly incompatible words.  Glory and suffering.  Yet, I've been learning they seem to be inseperably linked.
Think about the stories we love the most.  Usually they are the ones about people who have overcome insurmountable obstacles, been tested and tried, discouraged and disillusioned, and yet somehow still succeed.  We love the stories about little ragamuffin orphaned chimney sweeps who somehow rise to a place of position in the king's palace, or people who start from the bottom and work their way to the top, but what kind of success story is someone who says, "Yeah, I have an amazing story.  I inherited a billion dollars from my dead grandma and now I'm living in ease and luxury!"?  Boring!
Glory is most clearly revealed in the darkest circumstances.  For example, if a sports team beats another competitor with no problem or struggle, it's not really that big of a deal.  But if the team has struggled through the entire season, and barely make it to the most important game, and starts out by losing point after point till its almost impossible to come back, but then by some incredible odds they begin making an amazing comeback, and the best players are being hurt, and then at the last possible second someone makes an awe-inspiring pass and wins the game...those are the kind of glory stories we love!
And yet...we (meaning I) seem to constantly want glory without suffering.  The disciples of Jesus had the same problem, and I was really noticing this contrast between glory and suffering in Luke chapter 9 at our Bible study the other night.  Let me set the stage for you: Jesus has appeared on the scene and called his disciples, choosing twelve specific men out of all his followers to be his disciples.  He has been doing incredible miracles, healing the sick, casting out demons, even raising the dead and calming storms!  I can imagine the disciples are beginning to get pretty excited.  This could be a really good deal.  Maybe this really is the promised messiah we've all been waiting for, who will drive out the Romans and establish the kingdom of Israel to its rightful place again!  Not only that, but these twelve were in his inside group.  At the beginning of chapter 9, Jesus sends out his twelve disciples to do what he'd been doing and gives them power and authority over demons and to cure diseases.  This even attracts the attention of King Herod.  Things are going very well.  Then when the disciples get back, Jesus performs the miracle of feeding the 5,000 with only five loaves and two fishes! Fish. Fishes. Whatever.  Can you imagine what the disciples are thinking?  Here's a guy who can feed an army out of nothing!  This is great!
Then in the middle of all this, Jesus brings things to a screeching halt.  He takes his disciples out to this place where Luke says he is alone praying, and then asks them, "Whom do men say that I am?"  The disciples begin throwing out all the different theories, then Jesus asks, "But whom say ye that I am?"  Peter answers, "You're the Christ of God!"  Then Jesus does an odd thing. (At least, I thought it was odd when I read it.)  He tells them not to tell anybody!  Putting myself in the disciples shoes, I'd probably be thinking, "What?  Isn't that the whole reason you're here?  Shouldn't we be proclaiming to everyone who you are?" 
A similar thing happened in chapter 8.  A twelve-year old girl is dead, and Jesus brings her back to life.  Then he tells the parents not to tell anybody what happened!  When I first read that, I was thinking, "What?!  Sure, that'll be easy.  'Hey, wasn't your daughter just dying?  Now she's running around and eating food and stuff as healthy as ever! What happened?' 'Oh...um...I'm not allowed to tell you...'  Why would he tell them not to tell anybody?"  But now...(and I may be wrong about this, so don't stone me all you theologians) I think maybe he was trying to teach his disciples something about glory. 
So back to chapter 9.  He tells them not to tell anybody, then he throws another curveball in verse 22.  He says, "The Son of man must suffer many things and be rejected of the chief priests and elders and scribes, and be slain, and be raised the third day."  Then he says, "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow me.  For whosoever shall save his life shall lose it and whosever will lose his life for my sake shall find it."  This totally goes against our grain!  The disciples are thinking of all the glory of this coming Messiah, and now Jesus says if anybody wants to follow him, they have to deny themselves and take up their cross.  That sure doesn't sound glorious.  I think there are still people today who want to follow Jesus for the glory, but he says, if we want to follow him, we have to deny ourselves and suffer.
The next thing that happens in the chapter is the mount of transfiguration.  Clearly a moment where Jesus peels back the wrapper and shows them His glory!  But even there, Luke includes a detail not mentioned in the other gospels.  Moses and Elijah appeared with Jesus in glory and talked about his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem.  In glory, they were talking about his decease!  So here's a glory moment to cap all glory moments, then they come down the mountain and Jesus casts out a demon none of his disciples could cast out to top it off.  But even while they're all standing there marvelling at the mighty power of God, it's as if Jesus cautions them by saying, "Let these sayings sink down into your ears: for the Son of man shall be delivered into the hands of men."  And they still don't get it.  The next part cracks me up.  The disciples obviously don't get it because they began arguing about who's the greatest!  First of all, Jesus has been trying to show them humility throughout this whole thing, and second, you'd think they would have learned some humility when they couldn't cast out the demon!  But Jesus patiently teaches them again.  Then we have two more examples, of John specifically, forbidding a guy from casting out a demon because he wasn't part of their group, and then he and his brother wanting to call down fire from heaven because some Samaritans wouldn't give them a hotel room! 
You can tell where the disciples’ minds are at...and Jesus continues to constantly correct and instruct them.  The chapter climaxes with three accounts of people willing to follow Jesus but under certain conditions.  The first man says, “Lord, I will follow you withersoever you go!”  Now, I may be reading into the text, but based on Jesus’ answer to him, I’m guessing he didn’t really realize what he was saying.  Maybe he was just in it for the glory?  But Jesus tells him, “Look you can follow me, but you’ll be homeless, worse off than animals.” (Paraphrased, of course.)  The same type of thing with the next two.  They were willing to follow Jesus and share in his glory, but only on their terms.  But Jesus calls us to total commitment.  “If we suffer we shall also reign with him.  If we deny him he also will deny us.”  This chapter was full of examples contrasting suffering and glory, and the disciples just couldn’t seem to grasp it.  But we know that Peter finally did because in his first letter he writes, “Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations; that the trial of your faith being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 1:6-7)
Glory and suffering are linked.  And in living for God, you can’t have one without the other.