The Humility of Christ- Phil 2
It’s amazing to see the power of celebrity on some people. I remember seeing old news footage of the Beatles and watching girls in the crowd go absolutely bananas. They are screaming and fainting and jumping up and down. It looks like they are on the verge of a riot. The power some rock stars and movie stars have over people is amazing. We see them on TV, in movies, or hear them on the radio. We see them in magazines as we buy our groceries, and it is as if they are from another world. They are beautiful and rich and talented. For some reason, we want to know their opinions on the big issues that confront us. They can seem more than human to us mere mortals.
In the ancient world it was like this too. A great military leader like Alexander the Great or the Roman Emperor Augustus was considered divine. They were larger than life. They were more than human. They did amazing things that seemed beyond the ability of a human being.
St. Paul presents a very countercultural image of divinity. Divinity in Paul’s world was about power and strength. In the ancient world humility was considered weakness and was not considered a virtue at all. … Paul and the ancient Christians boldly connected humility to divinity. We really can’t grasp how shocking this would have been.
The road to divinity in the ancient world was about grasping for power. The way to divinity was about human beings conquering and gaining status and dominance. We still do this in some ways. We do this in big ways, as celebrities, or political leaders, or CEO’s of multinational corporations- we climb the “ladder of success”. But we also do this in small ways. We grasp for power- we seek for our will to be done- in the office, or classroom, or at home, sometimes even at church. We seek for our will to be done and that often means conflict with someone else’s will. Power meant you get your will done over and against all other wills.
Paul asks the Philippians to contemplate their Lord. In a world full of back-stabbing and gossip and cruelty, all for the sake of power and control, Paul asks them to contemplate self-sacrificing love and the relinquishing of power. To make his point, Paul quotes from a hymn (or a poem, or a creed) that would have been known to them. Scholars place Paul’s letter between 50 and 63AD. That’s something like 20 to 30 years after Jesus died, and this hymn pre-existed his letter. So, it is one of the earliest statements about Jesus we have. …
I point this out because scholars used to have this idea of the divinity of Jesus as being part of a later development. They thought the church started with what was called a “low Christology” and moved to a “high Christology”. What we are about to look at messes with that theory. That isn’t the main thing we are focused on today, but it is an important side note. … So back to this amazing hymn that Paul seems to be quoting in Philippians 2- we read,
“though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited”.The hymn will say he existed before he became human and is equal with God, which is a pretty fascinating thing to be said for those inheriting a monotheistic Jewish tradition. But the divinity of Jesus is assumed in this letter. Paul isn’t trying to prove that Jesus is God here. It’s assumed that everyone reading this letter is on the same page regarding the divinity of Jesus. …
What Paul is highlighting is the amazing humility of Jesus, who being equal to God
“emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross.”
Our Lord, the one in whose footsteps we are invited to follow, descended from the throne of God in the glory of heaven … to becoming a human being. But not an emperor. He came as one who serves, washing his own disciples’ feet, then dying on a cross as a rejected criminal. He chose not to come to humanity in overwhelming power, instead he was marked by humility and love. He was absolutely obedient to the will of his Father. … The idea is that if Christ can humble himself like this, surely we can give up having our way in smaller matters … in imitation of him.
Jesus poured himself out in service to the world. The result was that
Jesus poured himself out in service to the world. The result was that
“God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
… Just to give another nod to the divinity of Jesus here, in Isaiah 45:23 the God of Israel says,
“To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.”
Without any seeming need to justify applying that to Jesus, The Philippian hymn says this is the response to Jesus, who humbled himself to serve in obedience to the Father’s will. … By humbling himself low, he is glorified and lifted high.
Regardless of what our disagreements are about, it helps to pull ourselves out of the details and see the bigger picture. Christ is victorious and has won eternal life for us, so why would we arguing over the color of the carpet? Given the humility of the cross, and the glorification of the Resurrection and Ascension, how does that reframe the issues we might argue about in the church? Can we learn to submit out wills to each other given the self-emptying we see in Jesus? This isn't to say there aren't important issues to discuss. But those issues will still seem important when we bring our mind to the larger context. … This is the basis for what Paul says at the beginning,
Regardless of what our disagreements are about, it helps to pull ourselves out of the details and see the bigger picture. Christ is victorious and has won eternal life for us, so why would we arguing over the color of the carpet? Given the humility of the cross, and the glorification of the Resurrection and Ascension, how does that reframe the issues we might argue about in the church? Can we learn to submit out wills to each other given the self-emptying we see in Jesus? This isn't to say there aren't important issues to discuss. But those issues will still seem important when we bring our mind to the larger context. … This is the basis for what Paul says at the beginning,
“Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.”
… Now, of course, this needs to be applied with wisdom. This isn’t about being abused. This is about a community that is all looking out for the interests of everyone else, rather than just for themselves.
This is shifting gears a little bit, but it is important to point out what Paul says in verse 12 and 13. Verse 12 says
This is shifting gears a little bit, but it is important to point out what Paul says in verse 12 and 13. Verse 12 says
“work out your own salvation with fear and trembling”,
which sounds like it is all up to us to imitate the humility of Christ described in the hymn. … It is a dangerous verse if it is not paired with verse 13-
“for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure”.
Verse 12 makes it sound like it is all up to us and verse 13 makes it seem like it is all up to God. We hold these together. … We are the body of Christ, and although we can sometimes not feel very Christ-like, God is at work in us. This is who God is making us to be. This kind of humility is something God grows in us. …
I’ve been reading this book called “Elements”. It is a fiction series about a man who is being transformed into Christ-likeness. The second book is subtitled “Water” because water is always going lowest- it’s a symbol of humility. In the book he says this-
The Methodist Bishop Will Willimon says,
I’ve been reading this book called “Elements”. It is a fiction series about a man who is being transformed into Christ-likeness. The second book is subtitled “Water” because water is always going lowest- it’s a symbol of humility. In the book he says this-
"Most people describe the pursuit of God as an ascent… but the truth is that the way to God is always down. When one is struck by the beauty of His lowliness, His extreme humility… the follower of the Way seeks to descend beneath everyone. They recognize that they have spent the majority of their lives stepping on others in order to lift themselves up… in fact they have even lifted themselves above God. When repentance touches one’s heart they have an overwhelming desire to get beneath everyone and everything. The crazy thing is that, no matter how hard one tries… one can never get beneath God… because in His extreme humility, he has descended to the lowest place. In contrast one can see the opposite in history. The never ending ascent of pride and hubris. Cain lifting himself above his brother by murdering him and spilling his blood. The nations of the earth attempting to climb to the heavens by building the Tower of Babel. The Egyptians stepping on the nation of Israel by enslaving them and killing their first born children. The Edomites who took advantage of the exile of the Israelites to ravage the land and do violence to its inhabitants… who were actually their direct relatives… descendants of Isaac, the son of Abraham. The violence done to the prophets who called all to repentance… who called all to descend to justice and mercy… from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom they murdered between the temple and the altar. Finally… this ascent… this rebellion against God… ended in one cry…. crucify Him… crucify Him!"[1]Jesus doesn’t see power as we usually see it in the world. He is marked by condescension. Which has become a negative word for us. It means someone comes down to our level, but we don’t like thinking about people being higher than us. … But, condescension can be used well of God. He condescends. The Lord and Creator of the universe came to meet us as a human baby laid in a manger. He condescends to meet us in the prisoner, the sick, the thirsty, the naked, and the hungry (Matt 25). God condescends to meet us in simple bread and simple wine. Our God is not about grasping power. He is about open-handed giving of Himself.
The Methodist Bishop Will Willimon says,
“… Jesus tells us the truth about God. … God is lowest and the least, the little one, the wretched, the one who hangs in agony on a cross, the one who stoops down and washes our feet, the one who emptied himself in order to get down on our level, the one who rose and thereby shall raise us up as well.”[2]
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