The Servant's Assistants
Philippians 2:1-13
On this Palm Sunday let's step back from the immediate action and take a broader perspective on what is going on in this drama. Down there we see Jesus parading into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey. Children and grown men and women are waving palm branches and casting their clothes in his path as Jesus receives his culture's expression of a red carpet welcome. They cry, "Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord." It is a welcome fit for the king of the Jews and ironically that is the title that will hang above his head before the week is up as Jesus hangs from a cross: "King of the Jews" reads the sign. You can almost hear the devil snicker at that one.
But how did Jesus come to this point in his own life's journey? Truly this is a cosmic tale and the trajectory of the story is not from rags to riches but from riches to rags. From heaven's heights he came down to earth. From being in God's likeness he took on human form. "And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross."
If I had to put into one word what this story says to me it would be the word humility. Instead of envisioning humility as a shy person who's afraid to ask someone to dance at a party, let's think of humility as it's described in A Testament of Devotion by Thomas R. Kelly describes humility as a holy blindness, "like the blindness of him who looks steadily into the sun (36)." If you have ever looked directly into the sun you know that wherever you turn your eyes you will see only the sun. Holy blindness. Perhaps Jesus experienced a case of holy blindness as he rode the donkey into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. He was living totally in the moment — seeing the crowds — hearing the shouts of "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" Yet looking beyond the crowd into the sun Jesus focused his full attention on the God whom served in radical obedience. Humility is a kind of holy blindness.
In our text today Paul recommends that same kind of holy blindness, or humility, to each of us. Paul quotes the lyrics of an early Christian hymn to describe the humility of Christ Jesus, saying:
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.
(Phil 2:5-8, NRSV)
The humility of Christ is evident throughout his life from his birth to his death. We clearly see Christ's humility during Holy Week.
We see the humility of Christ as he rides a borrowed donkey into Jerusalem and hears the crowds welcome him as King of the Jews.
We see the humility of Christ when he gets down on his knees like a servant and washes his disciples feet on Maundy Thursday.
We see the humility of Christ when he is taken prisoner by Roman soldiers later that night in the Garden of Gethsemane and tells Peter to put down his sword.
We see the humility of Christ as he endures the ridicule of Roman soldiers who found the crown of thorns they devised to be hilarious.
And we the humility of Christ as he hangs naked and exposed on a cross and struggles for breathe under a sarcastic sign that pegs him as "King of Jews" written in three languages so no one will miss the joke.
Jesus Christ practiced humility and if we imitate him as Paul recommends then we too will practice humility. Is there a place for humility in our world today? Is there a place in our world for humility?
Our challenge as Christians today is to use humility in ethical questions. An attitude of humility would help our politicians in Austin and Washington, DC as they debate budget cuts. Where is Christian humility? I suppose it has never been a popular concept. Not in Paul's day and certainly not in ours. However, it's easy to point out the speck in the other's eye when we have a board sticking in our own eyes. This text is written for Christians. This challenge is for this congregation.
Specifically, the text speaks to our life together in Christ. Paul says we are to "think the same" and we know from the Greek verb Paul uses in Philippians 2:2, phroneo, that he is speaking not about having the same intellectual thoughts but about having the same attitude. Paul does not say all Christians must reach intellectual agreement on every ethical issue but he does insist that we all have the same attitude as Christ and that is the attitude of humility. I told the Session members last Wednesday that it likely that an amendment opening the door for the ordination of gays and lesbians will be approved by a majority of our presbyteries by the end of this month. Some of us will rejoice at this outcome and others will be dejected. We learn from our text today that we don't have to agree on whether gays and lesbians should be ordained as Ministers of the Word and Sacrament. Our challenge as contemporary Christians is to have enough humility to allow one another room to disagree about how we answer such questions. Humility could go a long way in healing the divisions among Christians in our nation today.
As I mentioned in an email this week this church is not competing with neighboring churches. That is thinking too small about our mission. We are not even competing against mega-churches such as Lakewood Church in Houston. That too would be too limiting for our vision. Our competition is against the forces of darkness in this world. Rather than competing against other Christians we are to work alongside them in the struggle against the forces of darkness in this world. If you want an example of the forces of darkness in this world think of the people who profit from using other human beings as slaves. Exploitation of humans by other humans is an example of the forces of darkness at work. As you can see, our plate it full, we have plenty to do. We do not have time or interest in fighting amonst ourselves or with other Christians. Our primary concern is networking with other Christians, Jews, and yes even Muslims and Hindus and Buddhists to work against the forces of darkness in this world.
Paul challenges us to imitate Christ but he does not spell out exactly what that means in every circumstance. Instead, he says, "... work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." That is what we Presbyterians have been doing for hundreds of years and that is what we shall continue to do during the Holy Week that lies before us. Paul says, "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." Imitate Christ and so practice humility. That sounds like a reasonable suggestion for we who are called by God to be servants of the servant.
Paul says, "Stop imitating others. Stop desiring things that will not bring you peace. Instead imitate Christ." No existence is free from imitation. The question of life is not whether we will imitate someone. The question of life is whom will we imitate? Paul exhorts us to imitate Christ. In order to imitate Christ we must first learn the meaning of humility. We think of humility as a virtue but it was not considered to be such in the Greek world in Paul's generation which was one generation after Jesus Christ. In the Greek world humility was regarded as servility. Women whose people had been defeated in war became servants to the male victors. They were considered spoils of war. There is a thin line between humility and humiliation. So Paul's converts may have been surprised to hear him recommending humility as he does in this text. "Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit," Paul says, "but in humility regard others as better than yourselves (Phil. 2:3 NRSV)."
~*~
Will you join me in a time of prayer ...
Loving God, teach us the secret of humility.
Teach us to wage peace instead of committing violence against one another.
Teach us to imitate Christ rather than our neighbors.
Teach us to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling.
In Christ's holy name we pray.
Amen.
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~The Rev. Dr. Jon Burnham preached this sermon at St. John's Presbyterian Church on Palm Sunday, April 17, 2011.
