7^th April 2015

Rev Dr Max Champion at St John's UCA Mt Waverley Sunday 29 March 2015

Lessons - Psalm 31:9-16; Mark 15:1-15; Philippians 2:5-11

'Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God as something to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to death - even death on a cross.'  (Philippians 2:5b-8 RSV)

This passage is always read on the Sunday that begins Holy Week. We usually mark the day as Palm Sunday to celebrate Christ's triumphant entry to the Holy City. But it is also Passion Sunday to mark the start of his suffering way to the cross. Our reading brings these themes together to express the glorious paradox of the Gospel. [See footnote.] In Christ the power of God is uniquely displayed in what looks like its opposite:  suffering love. 

As we approach Good Friday and Easter Day this 'Christ Hymn' reminds us that God's victory over evil and death is accomplished in-and-through the cross!

It is both a joyful affirmation of the 'paradoxical power of God' in the world and an attack on false power. It declares that God's love for humanity has been embodied uniquely in the humble, obedient and crucified man Jesus whom the Father raised from the dead and exalted as Lord over all. 

This is not necessarily welcome news! The letter is written from prison.

Paul's preaching had met with hostility. The message of Christ's obedience to death on a barbaric Roman cross (v8b) was most unwelcome among Romans who were remarkable for their times in providing a high level of social harmony and religious tolerance - not unlike our multi-faith society. 

You were free to practise your religion as long as you 'served' the Emperor as Lord of all. What could not be tolerated was the belief that the crucified Christ is Lord of all creation, including the State (v11). This was a direct challenge to the supremacy of State power and all forms of power which usurp God's costly love for all in Christ. 

Attempts to silence Paul failed. Though the Romans were offended, he insisted that the crucified and exalted Christ is the Lord of all that is 'in heaven and on earth and under the earth' (all creation). What happened in Jesus at a particular time in history is the Word of God (not just our words about our god) and the Word of hope for humanity (not just for a few pious souls).

Jesus is not simply a 'teacher' or 'spiritual guru' but 'Christ Jesus'. The 'One who comes in the name of the Lord', as the crowd cried out as Jesus rode into Jerusalem, uniquely embodied God's redemptive love for all! In a way that puzzles and mystifies us, God's power is revealed in and through the powerlessness of the Cross. 

At the same time, says Paul, the 'One who comes' is fully human. This, too, is a paradox! 'Christ Jesus' is in the 'form of God' and in 'human form'.

This, too, is offensive! It upsets monotheists (who think it is undignified that God be reduced to human level), atheists (who think it is an affront to humanity) and relativists (who think it is arrogant to claim so much for a religion). 

In the early Church this text was much debated as theologians wrestled with how best to express in words the unprecedented nature of what God had done in Christ. What did it mean that Christ Jesus (Messiah) was 'in the form of God'

and 'in human form'? Was he truly divine and human or did he only appear to be human? The outcome of an often-heated debate is wonderfully expressed in the confession of the Nicene Creed that the 'one Lord, Jesus Christ' is 'true God from true God ... who became truly human for our sake'. 

As Paul and others reflected on Jesus' remarkable, enigmatic and overpowering presence, Paul and others  were compelled to say that, in him, the world had been 'transformed' by the one truly human person who also embodied the very Being of God. Seeing in him the fullness of God's self-giving love for humanity and the truly human life for which we have been created by God, they rejected the idea that he was a kind of Demigod or Superman who was neither fully 'God' nor fully 'human'. 

Centuries later Charles Wesley put it well when he wrote that the 'one who comes in the name of the Lord' is 'the incarnate deity, our God contracted to a span, incomprehensibly made man' (Together in Song 305) and the truly human person who 'emptied himself of all but love' (Together in Song 209). 

Such Christ-embodied love is sacrificial love. Unlike us, who often trivialise love, lord it over others or blow our own trumpets, he obeyed his Father's will 'even to death on a cross'. In him we see who God is and whom we are called to be. For this reason, he is 'exalted', not because he had Superhuman powers and ruled by brute force but because he embodied the self-giving love of God for us and the self-giving response to God required of us.  

This is not an abstract theological word-game. It has implications for how we are to treat one another in the Body of Christ. We are called to 'let the same mind be in us that was in him' (v5). What a challenge to our life-together! Instead of 'lording it over others' or mistaking self-giving love for easy tolerance we are called to be 'transformed' by the 'One who, being in the form of God, did not grasp at divine power, but became obedient to death on a cross'. 

Above all, though, the 'Christ Hymn' is a call to mission in an often hostile world. It celebrates the Church's faith in 'Jesus Christ as Lord' of all creation. To be of 'one mind in Christ' means to be united in declaring the Gospel in societies where life is often dehumanised because leaders try to become like God. They lord it over others instead of emptying themselves of all but love. This is a call to resist false authority. The fact that Jesus is Lord means - as Christians resisting Hitler knew - false lords are not! 

In Australia, we find it hard to believe that Christ's self-emptying love could trigger such a response. Like public-spirited Romans, many of us think that Christianity is about tolerating diverse choices of every kind, provided that they do not intrude on other forms of faith and life-style. Such belief has become the de facto faith of many mainline churches! 

We are aware that Christians elsewhere are suffering. The Religious Liberty Network reminds us of persecution in other parts of the world. But that should not blind us to what is happening here - albeit in more 'civilised', form! Our dignity as people created in the image of God is being trampled in many places by those who are hostile to the way of the cross. 

Consider the venom that regularly accompanies criticism of Christianity! Some criticisms are justified, but not knee-jerk reactions to Christian beliefs as such. How dare 'religious people' (i.e. Christians) challenge the ruling world-view of acceptable community standards and State sponsored ideals that hold that all beliefs about God and human existence are purely a matter of individual or group choice. 

Speaking the 'word of the cross' invites hostility. The custodians of 'secular religion' are hell-bent on protecting religious and moral relativism at any cost. They do not take kindly to the word of God's self-emptying love that summons us all to 'conform' to the 'One who came' and 'transformed' the world. In the face of often stiff opposition, the Church needs to be ready 'to confess' (v11) that, in the coming of Christ Jesus, the Creator of all things has 'formed' his purposes for our life-together and has embodied the true humanity for which we have been created and for which we are destined. 

We can take heart from the fact that the 'servant Christ' who was crucified is now the 'exalted Lord of heaven and earth' (v11). His paradoxical victory is a cause for exuberant praise. 

Let us, therefore, pray that, seeing the 'form' of God in Christ's crucified love, we may be 'formed' in his image. May we glorify him as the Servant Lord of heaven and earth. May we stand firm in the public square to witness to the Servant Lord. May we live by hope that in the end humanity and the whole creation will be transformed in his servant image! 

So may we join crowds throughout the generations in the joyful acclamation:

'Blessed is the One who comes in the name of the Lord!'

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Footnote: A paradox is where two things that seem to be polar opposites occur together. In this Philippians passage there are two paradoxes that Paul uses to express the inexpressible mystery of what God has done in Christ Jesus: he is in the form of God and in human form; his exaltation takes place through crucifixion.

Rev  Dr Max Champion is Minister in St John's Uniting Church, Mt Waverley, Victoria, Australia.

Dr   Champion is a member of the Council of the Assembly of Confessing Congregations within the UCA.