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Palm Sunday 2009
| 14.04.2009, 08:21 | |
Rev. Davide Cantarella 12.04.2009 Phil 2:5-11 - Emptiness and New Life Lent is a Journey in which, year after year, we walk with Jesus so that year after year we are reminded of who He is, what He has done for us, and what it means to be his disciples. The closer we come to the end of this Journey, the clearer it becomes that being true disciples of Jesus means being imitators of Jesus. This does not mean that we should dress like him, or have long hair and a long beard as he probably did; we do not have an obligation to conform to his outward look, we do have the obligation to conform to his inward disposition. And in one simple sentence Paul does not leave us any doubt: “You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.” There is no room to wiggle here; there is no room for adding or taking anything out; there is no room for bargaining either. “You must have in you the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.” Period. Now, the idea is nice – but what does it really mean? In practice, in our daily life, what does it mean to have in us the same attitude that Christ Jesus had? I think that in order to answer this question we need to look both at what Paul writes in the verses preceding and the verses following verse 5. Let's start with verses 3 and 4. “Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.” Unfortunately, there is enough in these two verses to make many of us cry out to God for help. I don't think anyone has a problem with the “don't be selfish” part. But after that, things get quite rough. “Don't try to impress others.” Now, that is a whole lot more difficult! Impressing people is one of the things we do better, whether we are completely aware of it or not. To some extent, impressing others is the reason behind a lot of the things that we do, a lot of the things that we say, a lot of the things that we buy, the way we dress, the haircuts that we get, and so on and so forth. It is a natural thing to seek approval from others. Human beings like to be liked. But the danger is to turn this natural predisposition into the engine that runs our lives and determines the choices that we make. When the reason we get up in the morning is to hear compliments and admiration about the way we look, the things we say, the car we drive, the phone we use, or the pictures of our latest trip, we have a problem – we are being driven by vanity, which usually does not take anywhere and at the end leaves us empty-handed. “Be humble and think of others as better than yourselves.” Once again, in theory we don't have problems with the injunction to be humble. The problems begin when we understand that for Paul being humble and thinking of others as better than ourselves are closely connected (not to say that they are probably one and the same thing). More in particular we must understand that Paul is not saying to us that we should sit around feeling like dirt because everyone else is better than us. The focus is not on personal mortification and the exaltation of others. The focus is not even on our feeling of estimation of them. The focus is on caring for them and putting their needs at least on the same par as ours. Other people around me are not necessarily and qualitatively “better”than me, but their needs and concerns should be as important (at times more important) than my own. That is quite difficult to put into practice in a society, like ours, with a long tradition of what I call “survival mentality”, or what in Latin is expressed with the famous sentence mors tua, vita mea. It sorts of reflect the idea that life is much like a cake, and unless I get there before you, there may be nothing left for me. Years ago, people in this country had to stand in line to get even basic things like soap or toilet paper. At times they did not necessarily needed what was being sold, but they knew that if they did not get it today, someone else would get it. Today, things are a little different, but not really. Think, for instance, of what happens when a marshrutka (or the subway train) stops and the hunt for seats begin; or think of people who ask you if they can please come in before you just to ask a question, and come out thirty minutes later with the document you have been waiting to get. You need to be sneaky, because if you are not, you don't win. We live in a society in which we are not taught to put other people needs before ours; we are taught the opposite - “get it first before someone else gets it.” And the risk is that we may import the same mentality into the church – the mors tua, vita mea mentality. But I guess this problem is as old as the New Testament, and so Paul hundreds of years ago wrote a message that sounds extremely timely to us. “Don't look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others as well.” And then he paints a picture of what this means – a picture that is so powerful, no one really can look at it and remain indifferent. 5 You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. 6 Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. 7 Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, 8 he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross. I want you to pay attention to the movement within this text. It is a downward movement. It is the downward movement of the One, who existed before creation. He was with God. He was God. Yet he did not consider his divine, eternal existence to be something worth clinging to. Instead, he gave up his divine rights, and emptied himself. So He became human. And did not become a king, or a rich person. He took the humble position of a slave. The God of the universe that becomes a slave is quite a shocking idea already. But it does not stop here. The slave, God in human form humbles himself further, and in obedience, silence, and loneliness, he dies a criminal’s death on the cross. From the glory of the heavens to the shame of the cross – here is the descent of Jesus, the God-man. But it is a descent into greatness. The humiliation of Jesus becomes the reason for his exaltation. “God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Utter humiliation and death are rewarded with great honor, a name above all names, and Lordship over all creation. Humanly speaking, this does not make any sense. How can humiliation and emptiness become the reason for exaltation? And why would God reward emptiness with great honor? The answer is simple, but it is also strange. Are you ready? Here it is. In the self-emptying of Jesus, in his descent from the glory of heaven to the infamy of the cross, in his obedience to the plan of salvation for our sake, in his putting the destiny and needs of the world before his own, we see the very nature of God. Jesus empties himself, renounces all things and dies for us. And in this we see what the nature of God is – self-giving love. It is exactly because he was God, that he emptied himself for our sake. And surprisingly to some of us, in Jesus' emptying of himself we also see what human nature should be all about – self-giving love. It is exactly because he was human, the he emptied himself for our sake. Being God, or at least being the God we meet in Scriptures, means giving oneself away for the sake of the world. Being human, (which means being in the image of God), means giving oneself away for the sake of the world. Jesus shows us both what it means to be God and what it means to be human. Being human does not mean being God. But it does mean being like God. So, as humans, the center of our being should be self-giving love. And only when we give ourselves away in love are we truly human. If you remember, we began with the question – What does it mean to have the same attitude as Christ Jesus? At this point we can answer – it means to give ourselves away in love for the sake of others. So, how can we give ourselves away in love? How did Christ do it? When we look at Scriptures we find a bit of a contrast. In Philippians we read that Christ emptied himself. In Colossians we read that in Christ dwells all the fullness (Col 1:19; 2:9). So, was he empty or was he full? The Apostle John helps us figure it out. “From his fullness, we all have received, and grace upon grace” (John 1:16) Christ was full, and he emptied himself for our sake. As a result we have received grace and life. Similarly, those around us can receive grace and life – if we empty ourselves for their sake. But here, I think, we have a problem. Christ was full of divine nature, of the Spirit, of grace. But what are we full of? What do we have that will bring life and grace to others? The Scriptures say that what is in us, comes out of us. If there is hatred in us, hatred will come out; if there is unforgiveness, it will come out; if there anger, it will come out; if there are immoral desires, they will come out. Similarly, if there is love, it will come out; if there is gratefulness, it will come out; if there is praise, it will come out; if there are peace and joy, they will come out. What is in us, comes out of us, and, more often than not, is given to others. Now, coming back to my question, What are we full of? What do we have that will bring life and grace to others? In Christ was fullness of grace. What is in us? You know brothers and sisters, the more I walk with Christ the more I understand that Christ is my best friend, and I am my worst enemy. Christ is my best friend because He constantly wants to fill me with Himself, with His Spirit, with His love, with His grace. And I am my worst enemy because, at times intentionally, at times unintentionally, I tend to look for other things to fill me that are not Christ. And then I wonder why I get discouraged; I wonder why my ministry is not as effective as it could be; I wonder why people around me are not transformed. And the answer is quite easy. What is in, comes out. Christ, the Spirit, love, and grace in – Christ, the Spirit, love and grace out. Junk in – junk out. This is why I need Lent; I need to be reminded regularly that in me there should be room only for Christ and the good things he wants to fill me with, so that, following the example of Christ, I can empty myself, and give what I have to others, so that they may receive life and grace. It could be that some of you here may have the same problem that I have. Your lives sometimes are filled with the wrong things. I don't know what those are, but you know what those are. And these things that are inside, come outside, and they don't really bless the people around you, and you know. And you don't like this situation, but you don't really know what to do to change it. Well, I think God is trying to say something to you. And it sounds something like this, “I want to change what is in you. I want to replace it with with the grace of Christ, the Spirit of Christ, the life of Christ. I want to fill you with myself, so you can have the same attitude that was in Christ Jesus; and you can empty yourselves, and others because of you will find life and grace.” If you have filled your lives with something other than God, He needs to empty you. He needs, and you need to get rid of what is not His, so He can fill you with Himself. And what is inside will be seen on the outside, and trust me, people will see the difference, because they will see someone with the same attitude as Christ Jesus; someone who does not think about him/herself, but is a vessel of life and grace in the hands of God. This Sunday is the beginning of Holy Week. Our Lenten journey with Jesus is coming to an end. Later this week we will celebrate his passion. Next Sunday we will celebrate His resurrection. If we have not searched our hearts yet, this would probably be a good time. Jesus was full of love and grace. What are you full of? Are you full of the wrong things? Jesus wants to fill you with love and grace. Do you want to be filled? Do you want to be filled with Him? | |
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