Awakening and Union: The Risen Christ as Symbol
Most people hear “Thine Be the Glory” as an Easter hymn of triumph. The words and Handel’s jubilant melody carry the message of victory over death. Yet if we read it symbolically, it can be taken as a song about awakening.
The risen Christ becomes the image of the awakened being — one who has moved beyond fear, darkness, and sleep into a new state of life. The hymn’s sunlit imagery of light and triumph can be heard as a metaphor for the human passage from unawareness into consciousness.
The Voice of Thomas
The Gospel of Thomas presents Jesus’ sayings in a form that makes this symbolic reading even clearer. It is not concerned with narrative or miracles, but with the inner process of recognition:
- “The kingdom is inside of you, and it is outside of you. When you come to know yourselves, then you will be known, and you will realize that it is you who are the sons of the living Father.” (logion 3)
- “What you look forward to has already come, but you do not recognize it.” (logion 51)
- “When you make the two one … then you will enter the kingdom.” (logion 22)
- “I am the light that is over all things. I am all: from me all came forth, and to me all attained. Split a piece of wood; I am there. Lift up the stone, and you will find me there.” (logion 77)
In these sayings, the resurrection is not a single event in time but an awakening of awareness. What is longed for has already come, but the eyes of the spirit must be opened to see it. The “two” that must be made one are inner and outer, flesh and spirit, self and other. The light is not confined to a tomb in Jerusalem but is already everywhere — even in wood and stone.
Union with the Awakened One
In the canonical Gospels, Jesus speaks of union:
- “Abide in me, and I in you.” (John 15:4)
- “That they may all be one; even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you.” (John 17:21)
Union here is not submission to external power but recognition of shared being. To be “in Christ” is to be awake to the same light that shone in him. The promise of union is the promise of awareness: we do not merely follow, but participate in the same awakening.
The Symbol of Resurrection
Read in this way, “Thine Be the Glory” ceases to be only about a miraculous event long ago. It becomes a hymn to the present possibility of consciousness. The “risen Christ” is the symbol of what occurs when human beings come fully awake: the victory of light over sleep, of awareness over fear, of unity over division.
Resurrection thus speaks not only of life after death, but of life within life — an existence transformed by seeing what has always been there.
Conclusion
In the language of Thomas, awakening is recognition. In the language of John, it is abiding union. And in the language of the hymn, it is glory. Different voices, but all pointing toward the same truth: that the Christ who is risen is also the light within us, and that to awaken is to rise with him.
