Palm/Passion Sunday ---- 20 March 2016

Philippians 2:5-11

5 Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, ⁶ who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, ⁷ but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, ⁸ he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross. ⁹ Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, ¹⁰ so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹ and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

(Since the Passion according to Luke was read today, my reflection was much shorter and rather personal.)

And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross. 

·        Humility – we love to see it, but we don’t often love to BE it.

·        It is not a virtue that comes easily to our time and our place. I can’t speak for anyone but myself, but I want to be king of the world! I want things my way and I want them now.

·        It worked when I was four years old, so why shouldn’t it work today?

·        Reality gets in the way. Obligations and commitments, and simple politeness and respect take us in a different direction. The sobering realization that we are not the centre of the universe is part of this as well.

·        But what about someone who really IS the centre of the universe? …though he was in the form of God, (he) did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited…

·        We are used to hearing this story, the narration of the Passion of Jesus Christ from the Gospels. We hear it today because it is worth remembering and worth thinking about.

·        However, I’d bet we’d rather not think about it. The story is messy and sad. It isn’t glorious and uplifting the way we are sometimes told our religion, worship, and preaching should be. When we hear it, we are left speechless, silent before the sheer size and power of what the Gospel tells us.

·        We could say “That’s nice” and turn away to other things. If we listen, though, really listen, there is no turning away.

·        The word “Gospel” in any language, means ‘good news.’ Where then is the good news here? The good news is what we see when we look past the details of the Passion, to what motivated Jesus to take on this suffering. When we see that, we will see the lengths to which God would go to bring us back. We see the depths of love that led Jesus to suffer what he suffered.

·        There we see true humility, the emptying of Jesus to save us, the humility to which we are called, not to save ourselves, but to be like the one who has saved us. In that humility, those around us may see the love of Christ which is the world’s hope.

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,  who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but 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.