C. S. Lewis's Sermon: "The Weight of Glory"

  In his opening discussion of the difference between unselfishness and charity, Lewis begins with his characteristic emphasis upon what is to be affirmed in our experiences, not what is to be denied.  He would have little sympathy with what Williams called the Way of Negation.

Lewis takes a positive view of our experiences in the here and now, but his emphasis is upon our hope for that which is beyond this life for the faithful Christian.  The title for his sermon is taken from I Cor. 4:16, 17: “Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day.  For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.”  That which is beyond the grave for faithful Christians has nothing in this life with which to compare.

All people are possessed with a deep desire, and their lives are spent in quests to satisfy it.  Nothing in this life does, but they keep trying; hence, human restlessness which drives people from one experience to another.  Lewis speaks of “the evil enchantment of worldliness” which keeps promising that the good of man is to be found on this earth.  But not so.  We are made such that no natural happiness will completely satisfy.  Our affections are to be set on the things that are above; they will reward our faithfulness.  They alone will satisfy our deepest longings.  One may think of Augustine’s famous statement, speaking to God:  “. . . you made us with yourself as our goal, and our heart is restless until it rests in you” (Confessions, Book 1).   

Lewis turns to consider the Scriptural promises and, examining each, finds that they fall short of effectively portraying the fulfillment that the promises themselves hold forth.  The reason lies in the nature of symbolism.  The symbols used, such as being at a banquet or ruling cities, must by the very nature of things be drawn from our experiences.  But Scripture tells us “eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him” (I Cor. 2:9, KJV).  Nothing in creation is adequate to suggest symbolically the pleasures that await the faithful.

Lewis writes:

At present we are on the outside of the world, the wrong side of the door. . . . Some day, God willing, we shall get in.  When human souls have become as perfect in voluntary obedience as the inanimate creation is in its lifeless obedience, then they will put on its glory of which Nature is only the first sketch . . . . Nature is only the image, the symbol, but it is the symbol Scripture invites us to use.

Everything  rests upon our loving obedience here and now to heavenly precepts.  Scripture presents the essence of glory being the hearing the divine accolade: “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.”  It is difficult in our fallen state to prevent this from generating the poison of self-admiration.  But the being united in the community of complete and unadulterated love for Christ and the redeemed of all ages–which is the essence of heavenly glory–will allow no room for any trace of vanity or self-approval. 

It is such a destiny, and  that alone, which will fully satisfy the deep desires and restlessness that characterize our lives in the here and now–it is “the weight of glory.”  The essence of glory is, in the language of Scripture, to be known by God, to be completely at one with him.  Its opposite is to hear those dreadful words: “I never knew you.  Depart from me.” 

Lewis’s startling conclusion is:

It may be possible for each to think too much of his own potential glory hereafter; it is hardly possible for him to think too often or too deeply about that of his neighbour.  The load, or weight, or burden of my neighbour’s glory should be laid on my back . . . .  This does not mean that we are to be perpetually solemn.  We must play.  But our merriment must be of that kind (and it is, in fact, the merriest kind) which exists between people who have, from the outset, taken each other seriously . . . .  Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbour is the holiest object presented to your senses. 

Such is the nature of the 2nd commandment: “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.”