NOTES for Heb 9:11-14

"The blood of Christ," the semantic, emotional, and spiritual center of today's apostolic reading, appears against the background of the request made by the sons of Zebedee about the time when the Lord will come "in His glory" in the Gospel reading ("Grant us to sit, one at Your right hand and the other at Your left, in Your glory"). Blood and Glory, Power and Glory, Weakness even unto death and Glory: these two poles shine upon us today, unattainable to one another yet present at the same time, one in the apostolic and the other in the Gospel reading. But what is this time when the Lord will appear in glory? And what is glory? This is one of the most difficult concepts, made more complicated still by different layers of philology. Yet this is what we read in Psalm 16 (Ps 17:15): "As for me, I will behold Your face in righteousness; when I awake, I shall be satisfied with Your likeness." Here the word "glory" in the Church Slavonic translation apparently has no relation to the Latin Gloria, and thus none to the Russian word slava. But the meaning that appears before us here helps us understand how we are to live out the brothers' request and apply it to ourselves. For the mere sight of the image of God will fill us with such happiness that we will need no other satisfaction. We will be satisfied. Yet perhaps this will be only because we have been cleansed by His blood, have passed through His dying, have received it into ourselves, and have become participants in it. Only then will the meeting after separation truly satisfy every desire. But if that terrible separation never took place... What trifles then occupy our thoughts: who, where, with whom, why... But He is not there, because He died and rose again.