Sunday of the Passion
Phil
2:5-11
4/2/23
“Jesus is
Lord.” This was the earliest Christian
confession – its earliest creed. Paul
told the Corinthians, “No one can say “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy
Spirit. He told the Romans that it was necessary to confess this with one’s
mouth in order to be saved.
“Jesus is
Lord.” In the Gospel and Epistle lessons for today, we are reminded about why
the claim sounded so absurd to the first century world. After all, we find Jesus on trial before the
Roman governor, Pontius Pilate. Pilate
caves into public pressure as in a calculated political move he hands Jesus
over to be executed by crucifixion.
Jesus is
scourged by the Roman soldiers. He is
hit with a whip studded with lead or pieces of bone that shreds skin and leaves
muscle exposed. Then he is mocked by the
Roman soldiers, as they have some fun at the expense of this pathetic Jew.
Next, taken
to the place of execution, he is crucified. He is nailed to a cross in a way
that is meant to cause slow suffocation – often during the course of several
days. His cross is lifted up and set between two criminals. On it is put the charge, “This is Jesus, the
King of the Jews.” Jesus is mocked by
the Romans, but also becomes the means by which the Romans mock the conquered
Jews.
Yet the Jews
who oppose Jesus are there to mock as well.
They had to witness the signs and wonders Jesus performed. Again and again, Jesus had bested them in
theological arguments. Now, they have
the opportunity to get the last word, and they relish the moment. The chief
priests, with the scribes and elders, mock him, saying, “He saved
others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him
come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him.”
Finally,
after uttering the cry, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”, Jesus
dies. He does not last on the cross for
days. He lasts for only six hours before
death. Then friends bury him in a nearby
tomb which is sealed and guarded – a final indignity heaped upon him by his
Jewish opponents.
To
call Jesus “Lord” sounded absurd because there was another individual who bore
that title. The Roman emperor was called “Lord.” He ruled an empire that encompassed the
entire Mediterranean world – an empire that stretched from England to Syria;
from North Africa to Germany and the Balkans.
There seemed no doubt about who the real Lord was – after all, it was
the emperor’s agent who had crucified Jesus in the first place.
But
in our text, the apostle Paul tells us that there is more to the story. He
begins by saying, “Have this
mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was
in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be
grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of
a servant, being born in the likeness of men.”
No,
there was no comparing the Roman emperor and Jesus because while the emperor
was just a man, Jesus was God. He was God – the Son of God, the second person
of the Trinity. However, he did not
consider this equality with God something to be grasped – something to be used
for his own advantage. Instead, in order to carry out the Father’s saving will
he emptied himself – he took on the form of a servant – of a slave - when he
was born in the likeness of men.
Conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary, the Son of God
emptied himself in the incarnation because he came to serve us.
In
the person of Jesus Christ, the Son of God was in the world to serve. But the
way he would do this defies all logic.
It goes beyond all rationality.
Paul tells us, “And being found in human form, he humbled
himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a
cross.” Jesus Christ, the Son of God
humbled himself in order to obey the Father’s will. He humbled himself in willingness to
die. Yet it was not just to die – it was
to die by means of the cross. He
humbled himself to be point of the humiliation and degradation that we find in
our Gospel lesson.
The Son of
God was willing to do this for two reasons.
The first reason is our sin.
Conceived and born as fallen people, we sin in thought, word, deed. We sin against God. We sin against our
neighbor. Because of these things, the
wrath of God will be revealed in judgment on the Last Day.
Yet the second reason was God’s love for us. Paul told the Romans, “For one will scarcely die for a righteous person--though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die-- but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” God’s love for us prompted him to send his Son on the mission of humiliation. The Father sent forth the Son into the world in order to be the sacrifice for our sin. Paul told the Romans that, “By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh.”
That
is what was happening on the cross. We
know this because the cross was not the end.
Paul continues in our text by saying, “Therefore God has highly exalted him and
bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so 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.”
The
first Christians learned to confess, “Jesus is Lord,” because God raised Jesus
from the dead on the third day. Yes, he
died in the humiliation of the cross.
But he did not remain dead.
Instead God raised him up, and Jesus appeared to them on Easter and for
a total of forty days. Jesus ate and
drank with them, and taught them about the kingdom of God.
By the resurrection,
God the Father vindicated Jesus who had humbled himself to the point of death,
even death on a cross. And in the
ascension he exalted Jesus as he was seated at the right hand of God. God
highly exalted Jesus over all things, and gave him the name that his above
every other name. He gave him the name
“Lord.” Jesus is the risen and exalted
Lord. When he returns in glory the words
of our text will find their fulfillment. God has acted so that on the Last Day
“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.”
The day will come
when all will have to confess that “Jesus is Lord.” For those who have
confessed this during their life and believed that God raised Jesus from the
dead, these words will be raised in exultation as we celebrate the salvation we
have received. For those who rejected
Jesus during this life and refused to believe in him, it will be the sorrowful
admission of those facing damnation.
You confess “Jesus is
Lord” now. You believe that God raised
him from the dead, and so you have salvation.
To die is to be with Christ. The
Last Day will mean sharing in Jesus’ resurrection as you live with him in the
new creation.
Yet confessing Jesus
as Lord holds meaning for how we live each day.
Paul begins our text by saying, “Have this mind among
yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus.”
Paul refers to “this mind” because of what he has just said: “Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but
in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of
you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of
others.”
The way of Christ –
humility in service to us – becomes the model for our lives. Christ “did not count equality with
God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form
of a servant.” He emptied himself in the incarnation as he entered the way
of service, and then humbled himself to the point of death – even death on a
cross.
If Christ did this
for us, that now becomes the way that we live in relation to others. You have been baptized into Christ and
received his Spirit, so now count others as more important than yourself. Look out for their interests ahead of your
own. We do this for not only for those in our family and church, but also for
those outside these groups. After all,
Christ showed love for us when we were still sinners.
“Jesus is Lord.” The words sounded absurd to the first century
world because they declared that a Jew who had been crucified was Lord of
all. But the apostles and witnesses of
Jesus suffered and died to confess this before the world because they had met
the risen Lord. They knew that God had
highly exalted Jesus and bestowed on him the name that is above every name.
Now, you have met Jesus Christ through his
inspired Word. The Spirit has called you
to faith in him, the crucified and risen One.
You are able to confess “Jesus is Lord.”
You confess this now and so you have forgiveness and salvation. You confess it even before a world that is
hostile to Jesus and mocks him. You will
joyfully confess this on the Last Day when at the
name of Jesus every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and
under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ
is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
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