Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? Or what can one give in exchange for his life? For the Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father’s glory, and then he will repay each according to his conduct. Amen, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

Matthew 16:24-28

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Glory in the Cross

Can we look through the Cross to the Father’s glory? Can we hear the angels of God through the Son’s cries of agony? Attuned to the Spirit with the eye and ear of the heart, we find the Father in the Son, world without end.

Between Christ’s prediction of his Passion and his Transfiguration, he offers the cross to his disciples. “Whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” Priceless, fullness of life in Christ demands our all. Unless Jesus is truly the only-begotten Son of the Father, his words have no authority. 

In His Father’s Glory

For the Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father’s glory, and then he will repay each according to his conduct.

Mathew 16:27

Only one who has dominion commands a host of angels “in his Father’s glory.” Only one with divine authority judges “the living and the dead” (Nicene Creed).

Undying Saints

“Amen, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

Matthew 16:28

Apostles, martyrs, and confessors look through the Cross to the Father’s glory. Saints hear the angels of God through the Son’s cries of agony.

“Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”

Acts 7:56, Martyrdom of St. Stephen

May God’s kingdom come among us
With the Son’s angelic chorus.