Thoughts for the Day

Imitating Christ’s Humility

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,
 who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
as something to be exploited,
 but emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to the point of death—
even death on a cross.

Therefore God also highly exalted him
and gave him the name
that is above every name,
 so that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
 and every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

As we saw two days ago, Paul is writing to his beloved Church in Philippi - the group who supported him financially, and also through their prayers. There has been some internal squabbles and he wants to encourage them to be of one mind, supporting each other in love. He uses the example of Jesus to make his point, in one of the most moving of passages. However, in his description of Jesus he uses the word "form", and this can cause some problems for the modern reader.

We use the phrase "in the form of" or "taking the form of" as though Jesus put on or took off a costume or character like an actor, but this is not so. Greek is a rich language and often has two or three words for our one word, and this is so for the words "form" and "being". Paul is speaking of the "essence" of someone - this cannot change - for example, a human is always a human! However, a human can change from a baby, to a child, and to an adult, but even so, they are still human!.

The passage above reminds us that Jesus was God, eternally, and existed before the world began, and that he chose to divest himself of his divinity to become human. He didn't pretend to be a man, he was a man, and as a man he was crucified for us. In the same way that Jesus humbled himself for others, we should follow his example. "Let the same mind be in you as in Christ Jesus", Paul says to the Philippians and also to us today.

Lord Jesus Christ,
Your servant Paul asked the Christians in Philippi
to follow Your example of true humility.
May we too learn from You -
looking to the good of others
rather than ourselves,
then rejecting selfishness and conceit,
act only in accordance with Your wishes.
Amen.