Sermon for the Sunday of the Passion - Phil 2:5-11

 

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.