Philippians 2.5-11 and Matthew 21:1-9
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
On Palm Sunday Jesus rode into Jerusalem riding a colt. The prophet Zechariah had foretold that Zion’s king would enter Jerusalem this way. “Tell the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your King is coming to you, lowly, and sitting on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.’” John records that when the people see Jesus coming to Jerusalem in this way, they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out: “Hosanna! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!’ The King of Israel!” (Jn 12:13). Although He did not arrive in Jerusalem like a king, they received Him with palm branches waving and garments paving a royal road for Him, because the prophet had foretold that the king would arrive this way. Jesus’ lowliness did not offend them. That was part of the prophecy. The one riding the beast of burden into Jerusalem would be the King of Israel, the Son of David, the One who comes in the name of the Lord, so they cry out “Hosanna”, “Save us!”
This lowliness and humility were not only how Jesus entered Jerusalem. It characterized His entire life. He was mother was of lowly state (Lk 1:48). His first bed was a manger. When he was barely a month old his parents took him to Egypt because Herod sought to kill him. During the days of His ministry He told a would-be disciple, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head” (Mt 8:20), and describes Himself in Matthew 11[:29] as gentle and lowly in heart. This lowliness would mark the days of this week—Holy Week. On Thursday evening, after celebrating the Passover with His disciples, He will be betrayed by one of His disciples. Judas will arrive in Gethsemane with a detachment of troops, and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, came there with lanterns, torches, and weapons (Jn 18:3). Jesus will be arrested, deserted by His disciples, and convicted as a blasphemer and condemned as a criminal. He will be scourged, mocked, emaciated, and then crucified. Lowliness and humility characterized His life. They characterized His innocent, bitter sufferings and death.
St. Paul describes the humility and lowliness of Jesus in today’s epistle. Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.” What does this mean? To be in the form of God is to possess divine power, divine majesty, and divine glory. Christ possessed all these from eternity, but when He became man, He still possess them all and shared them with His human nature which received from the Virgin Mary, so that Paul can say in Colossians 2:9, “In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” This is why he not consider it robbery to be equal with God. He is equal with God the Father. He is in the form of God, possessing divine power, majesty, and glory.
But Christ Jesus made Himself of no reputation—literally, He emptied Himself. He doesn’t lay aside His divine power, majesty, and glory, so that they’re detached from Him, placed in storage or on reserve somewhere else. He refuses to use His divine power, majesty, and glory. He shows glimpses of it at times in miracles, but even those are for the sake of serving others in their weaknesses and infirmities. He empties Himself by taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. The form of a bondservant—or slave—is humility, lowliness, and obedience. This is how He empties Himself. He comes in the likeness of men. He assumes human flesh so that He can also assume human weakness and frailty, because in all things He had to be made like His brethren (Heb. 2:17), so that He might be in all points tempted as we are (Heb. 4:15). He is humbled “as if he were a sinner.” He empties Himself by assuming the place of sinners. God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us (2 Cor. 5:21). Christ not only suffered under the curse of the law, He became a curse for us (Gal. 3:13). He emptied Himself of His divine prerogative, clothes Himself with lowliness and humility so that He might be obedient to God the Father throughout His entire earthly life, to the point of death, even the death of the cross—the death reserved for criminals and slaves, the most humbling death that sinful man can concoct for another. The emptying is His humble obedience.
“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.” Paul sets forth Christ’s self-emptying humility as an example for us to follow. Christ Jesus set aside His prerogative as God to serve others. Christ Jesus refused to demand what He was rightly owed as God so that He might do what was in the best interest of our sinful race. Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many (Matt 20:28). Christ endured everything—the physical pain, the spiritual torment, the wrath of God against sin—in obedience to God the Father and love for those He came to serve. This is the mind which Paul exhorts us to have. He wants us to lay aside whatever prerogatives we possess to serve others. He wants us to refuse to invoke whatever rights we have in order to do what is the best interest of our neighbors. Our attitude should not be one of looking to be served by others, but to serve others. Paul explains what this looks like in the verses immediately before today’s epistle. “Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others” (Phil. 2:3-4).
Christ gives the example. The apostle directs us to follow it. We pray to do just that in the Collect, “Almighty and Everlasting God, Who hast sent Thy Son, our Savior Jesus Christ, to take upon Him our flesh and to suffer death upon the cross that all mankind should follow the example of His great humility, mercifully grant that we may both follow the example of His patience and also be made partakers of His Resurrection.” God the Father’s will is that we follow Christ’s example, and we pray for His mercy that He would grant that to us, so that we may follow Christ’s example more and more each day in our friendships, marriages, jobs, and all our vocations, being patient and loving with others, in all lowliness and gentleness, looking out for the interests of others in everything we do.
But no one is saved is following this example. True humility, true self-emptying, and true obedience only flow from the heart which receives what Christ earned for all by His humility, self-emptying, and obedience has won. Christ was obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross, to pay for our sins, all of which are disobedience and transgressions of God’s will. His obedience makes perfect payment for our disobedience, so that all who believe in Him have complete forgiveness. Christ endured the wrath of God against sin and sinners on the cross, crying out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Ps. 22:1), so that those who take refuge in Him are no longer under God’s wrath but possess the blessings of a good conscience, peace, and the promise of everlasting life. Only by humbly confessing our sins and disobedience to God, acknowledging that our sins deserve His wrath, and asking forgiveness for the sake of Jesus’ innocent, bitter sufferings and death, and trusting the promise of the gospel are our hearts made new, changed, and recreated so that we have the mind of Christ in us. We are not saved by imitating Christ’s example. We are saved by placing our trust in his death on the cross for our sins, and our following His example is a fruit of our faith in Christ.
One more thing. There is a “Therefore.” Because Jesus was obedient to the point of the death of the cross, “Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Following Christ’s example of humility, He will, one day, call us to follow Him in His exaltation. Christ Jesus laid aside the form of a servant at His resurrection, fully manifesting His divine glory by ascending to the right hand of the Father, where now all things are present to Him and subject to Him. As Christ humbled Himself and God the Father glorified Him, so too God will exalt those who trust in His Son and follow His example of humility, obedience, and self-emptying for others. He may do this in this life to some extent, but He will most certainly exalt His faithful people in the life of the world to come. With this in mind, do not seek worldly glory and earthly exaltation, but seek to glorify and confess Christ in all we do, trusting that whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted (Mt 23:12). Amen.
May the peace of God which surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
