Seventh Sunday of Easter
Sunday, May 13th, 2018click here for past entries
Loving God, you sent your son Jesus not just as an example, but as the embodiment of your love for us. Help us to continue to learn from him and to trust in your Holy Spirit; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
As you probably already know, Paul was writing to the church at Philippi. Today, once again, we hear just part of the letter. However, in this particular part, we get some pretty good hints as to what was probably going on in Philippi when Paul was writing this. He begins, “If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete” (Phil. 2:1-2). In other words, focus on these things – encouragement, consolation, love and compassion.
Focus on these things, and “be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind” (2:2). Can you guess what was probably going on in the church at Philippi?... [having a few disagreements] And so Paul tries to get them to focus on Jesus. Put aside any “selfish ambition or conceit” and “in humility regard others as better than yourselves” (2:3). In other words, look at Jesus and how he conducted himself.
Then, in order to help us (and them) to reflect on Jesus, Paul uses the words of a hymn. The hymn focuses first on how Christ humbled himself. As the gospel of John puts it, “in the beginning… the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (Jn. 1:1). The pre-existent Word, the Son of God, was with God and was equal to God from the beginning. And so, for Jesus, even being born as a human being was a very humble thing to do. Can you even imagine being able to control and direct the stars and the planets, and then becoming trapped in human skin –and doing it willingly? (Spill the Beans, Issue 26) It is hard for us to imagine, and yet, that’s what Jesus did out of love for us. Not only that, but Jesus sacrificed himself once again when his love for us took him all the way to the cross.
You can describe this as humility. You can describe it as downward mobility. You can think of it as God’s self-demotion. No matter which way you look at it, this is what God chose to do in order to meet us on our own level. At the same time, it is this humble obedience that is the source of Jesus’ exaltation – which also leads to our exaltation, or raising up. It is just like the letter of James says: “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you” (4:10).
Truthfully, though, not everybody needs lessons in humility. Certainly, there are those who do – especially those who believe in Jesus and yet are full of selfish ambition or conceit. However, at the same time there are also those who believe in Jesus and yet think too little of themselves. At least one commentator suggests that, generally speaking, women do not need lessons in humility (RevGalBlogPals). Many women are used to putting the needs of others ahead of their own needs – especially those who are mothers and grandmothers.
However, as with all generalizations, this is not true of everybody – and I have also encountered men who already think very little of themselves. The thing is that humility is not all about believing that you are worthless or insignificant. Jesus humbled himself in order to serve others, but he still knew that he was the beloved Son of God. He knew who he was and he knew the love of God, and he chose to live as a servant for the benefit of others.
When Paul encourages us, through the letter to the Philippians, to have the same mind as Christ, it is with this same knowledge of the love of God for us. The humility that is encouraged is with the knowledge that we are loved and redeemed and saved by God. We are precious children of God who have been given gifts for ministry and have been called into service for the sake of others. The humility, then, comes in our attitude toward others, as we recognize that they, too, are precious children of God and worthy of honour and respect. And all of us need encouragement in Christ and consolation from love and sharing in the Spirit.
We need these things on our journey through this world in order to be instruments of the Holy Spirit and witnesses for Jesus Christ. In fact, it is an amazing thing that the God who created the heavens and the earth and who exalted Jesus as Lord of All actually lives in us. God “is at work in [us], enabling [us] both to will and to work for [God’s] good pleasure” (Phil. 2:13). As Paul writes later in Philippians, “I can do all things through him who strengthens me” (4:13).
In this respect, we sell ourselves short far too often. It is a trap that I fall into as well, where I am tempted to rely only on what I can do, rather than looking to God for all that is needed. God can do all kinds of things in us and through us when we are willing to open ourselves in prayer and to rely on the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
It is easy to look around us and to see what is lacking and what is wrong in this world that we inhabit. It is easy to become anxious about the bottom line and to ask, “What are we going to do?” However, the better question is always, What is God going to do? In fact, what is God already doing? What is God going to do in and through us in order to love and to bless the world? For God continues to be at work in us, both to will and to work for God’s good pleasure by the power of the Spirit. Thanks be to God! Amen.
Easter 7 (NL 4) Philippians 2:1-13
May 13, 2018
St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church
Pastor Lynne Hutchison
© 2018 Lynne Hutchison All Rights Reserved
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