Philippians 2:1-13
Paul was most likely writing to the
Philippians during one of his imprisonments in Rome. He knew the community he
was writing to and was obviously fond of them. He had been to visit them before
and was hoping to return. It doesn’t appear that they had any major issues like
other communities Paul wrote to. He
commends them for their obedience. But
they weren’t perfect. There was clearly some dissension in the group. There is evidence of that in our reading for
today. Paul is even more explicit in the
4th and final chapter of this letter when he mentioned two women and
encouraged them to “come to an agreement in the Lord.” Paul was incredibly concerned about the unity
of the Christian community. We see that
theme over and over in his letters. He
didn’t need everyone to agree all the time, but he wanted people to care for
one another and live alongside one another, even when they were disagreeing.
In our reading for
today, it’s not clear what the dissension is. He says, “be of the same mind,
having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit,
but in humility regard others as better than yourselves.” He goes on to talk about the importance of
considering the interests of the other above your own interests. This has come up a lot lately in our readings
from Paul. For him, it was always about
the other, never about the self. That
was something he was continually preaching.
That’s a tough pill to
swallow because it is contrary to everything we experience in this day and age. I mean, most of us walk around glued to a
device called an “iphone.” However, we
know from reading Paul’s letters that even before Apple products, people were
preoccupied with themselves. Otherwise,
Paul would not have had to talk about putting the needs of the other above your
own as much as he did.
What makes this text
distinct from the ones we have been reading over the past few months is verses
6-11. They are familiar verses because
we hear them every Palm Sunday. “Though
he was in the form of God, he did not regard equality with God as something to
be exploited but emptied himself…he humbled himself and became obedient to the
point of death---even death on the cross.”
This is often referred to as a Christological hymn, which means it was
essentially a statement of belief about who Jesus was. It’s an interesting thing to put in the
middle of a letter—it almost seems out of place.
But that is the beauty
of Paul. Paul felt that every problem,
every disagreement could be solved by knowing Jesus and knowing the sacrifice
that Jesus made for God’s people. You
don’t agree on what traditions to follow in this new community, remember that
Jesus died for you. You are having some
leadership disputes, remember that Jesus was a born a human and died a horrible
death, for you. It almost seems a little
manipulative, as if nothing we face compares to Jesus’ sacrifice.
It was more than that
for Paul. For Paul, every issue was
theological. In other words, it always came back to Jesus Christ—but not just
the name of Jesus, but who he was and what he did. How can we squabble about who gets to make
decisions or be in charge when Jesus (God in the flesh) agreed to come down to
the earth, be born in a barn, live like one of us, then be betrayed, denied and
ultimately killed by humans who he was trying to save. He truly emptied himself of privilege and to
some degree power by living with us on earth.
So when Paul says, “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ
Jesus…” he is talking about embodying Christ by emptying ourselves from selfish
ambition. It’s the opposite for being
full of oneself.
Apparently
there has been significant debate about what Paul really meant when he said, “Let
the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.” Was he saying that we have to follow his
example, perhaps even make the same kind of sacrifice? I think it is more than that---because it is
so easy ignore that. Who wants to follow
Jesus’ example of death on the cross? It’s impossible. If that is what we have to do, it’s tempting just
to give up.
What if Paul was talking about something
deeper…the idea of being in Christ. It comes back to the mission statement of St.
John’s: “To live in the Spirit of Christ.” That is more than following an
example. It is living the Christian life
knowing deep down what Jesus did for us.
It is being transformed by that understanding of radical love and
acceptance.
Jesus is not a role
model to follow. Jesus is the way, the
truth and the life. Often times when I
am facing a difficult decision, I start combing through the Bible, hoping I can
find the verse to convince myself and ultimately everyone else. But you know what, that almost never
works. What might be more effective is
too back up and look at the big picture like Paul does. Don’t ask what would Jesus do. Ask: What does a person transformed by Jesus’
sacrificial love do?
Throughout our Sunday
morning liturgies and virtually every other liturgy of the church, we have
reminders of who God is and what has done for us. If you just look at the Eucharistic Prayer,
it is full of prayers to remind us of who Jesus is and what he did for us. What
if we extended that idea beyond Sunday morning and found a way to remind
ourselves of the way and the truth and the life, every day. The last verse of
our reading reminds us that God is at work in us, enabling us to do God’s
will. God is at work in us---- but we
also need to make space, empty ourselves so God can do that work. We need to remind ourselves of the
sacrificial love that God poured out for us, his children.
In a time of our lives
where everything is different—nothing goes according to plan—hold fast to Jesus
Christ. Perhaps find a Christological
hymn for yourself, something you keep coming back to. It could be the one we had in our reading for
today. It could be “Christ has died.
Christ is risen. Christ will come again” from our Eucharistic prayer. Write it down, put it on your iphone as a
daily reminder. Embrace it as the part of our world that doesn’t change, that
remains true and holy. Embrace God as
not simply part of the world, but a part of who you are, the best part. Don’t let anyone or anything take that part
away from you. God is bigger than any
disagreement or conflict the world will ever see, as long as we give him the
space.
No comments:
Post a Comment