The Christ Hymn

It’s a pretty radical idea — God descending into human flesh.

 

Psalm 23
"Psalm 23," John August Swanson. Used by permission from the artist. Image © by John August Swanson.  Artwork held in the Luther Seminary Fine Arts Collection, St. Paul, Minn.

May 13, 2018

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Commentary on Philippians 2:1-13



It’s a pretty radical idea — God descending into human flesh.

 

God chooses downward mobility against all expectations of a deity. If folks have spent a lot of time in church, it’s likely they are used to the idea of God becoming human. It can be the wallpaper of our faith — all around us and yet just sort of there in the background. These verses from Philippians 2 call us to see — again, maybe for the first time — how radical this God is and what that means for our lives.

In the ancient world, a god who was “born in human likeness” (verse 7) was a self-demoting God, hardly the sort of God useful for human life. It’s one thing for Zeus to become human for a day to play tricks, but it’s quite another for the God of the universe to “empty himself taking the form of a slave” (verse 7), that is, to take on flesh, become fully human, suffer and die. Who needs a God like that? This God doesn’t sound like a “winner,” like a mighty deity who comes to the aid of powerless humans or like a super kick-butt-and-take-names deity we want on our side. In fact, ancient folks were unlikely to trust the judgment of a “loser God” who chooses this sort of downward mobility.

In the Roman Empire, dominance, victory, and ascendance signaled power and authority. How is it possible for humility, servitude, submission, even death, to signal power and authority?

Yet verses 6-8 tell us everything about this God we need to know — that Jesus empties himself, becoming a servant, in order to fully inhabit humanity, to fully incorporate human life into divine life. This God loves and longs for us so much that God enters fully into human life — not putting on a human suit for a day but submitting to all the indignities and joys of human life, including death.

This God does not withhold love until we rise to a divine level, but rather stoops to our level, scoops us up in all our messiness and makes us part of God’s own Life, the Triune Life, where we are healed and saved.

And, in a twist of logic, God’s self-demotion into full humanity is the source of Jesus’ exaltation. And it is the source of ours as well. Our full, messy humanity is the ground on which we kneel to raise up glory to God.

What does this mean for how we live? This goes-against-the-grain God sets the pattern for our lives as well. Against the cultural narratives that tell us winning is everything, those who follow Jesus take on a downward mobility attitude about life. We can “have the same mind that was in Christ Jesus” (verse 5), being humbled by the same love that was in Christ Jesus. And, equally counter-cultural, it is in our humbling that we become fully and deeply human “to the glory of God the Father” (verse 11). Amen.


PRAYER OF THE DAY

God of love,

With praise we celebrate Jesus, who humbled himself so that every knee should bend and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Amen.

HYMNS

Like the murmur of the dove’s song   ELW 403, H82 513, UMH 544, NCH 270
That priceless grace   ELW 591
O day full of grace   ELW 627

CHORAL

Children of Peace, Anne Kilsofte