28^th March 2013

Rev Dr Max Champion at St John's UCA Mt Waverley Sunday 24 March 2013

Lessons - Palm 31:9-16; Luke 19:28-40; Philippians 2:5-11

'Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God, did not count
equality with God a thing 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. 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 the 'Christ Hymn' reminds us
that Christ's victory over evil and death is accomplished in and through
the cross! It is a joyful affirmation of the 'paradoxical power of God' in
the world and an attack on false power. God's love for humankind has been
uniquely embodied 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 remarkably humane and tolerant for their times. Roman law was
notable for guaranteeing a high level of social harmony and religious
tolerance - not unlike our multicultural and multi-faith society.

People were free to practise their religious beliefs as long as they
worshipped the Emperor. What could not - and cannot - be tolerated is the
belief that the crucified Christ is Lord of all creation, including the
State (v11). Not only was this a direct challenge to the supremacy of
State power, it was an attack on power that usurped God's power and mocked
the humble, obedient and sacrificial power of Christ's love for all.

By imprisoning Paul, Roman lawmakers clearly understood that faith in
Christ threatened social cohesion. He had to be stopped from saying that
the crucified and exalted Christ is the Lord of all that is 'in heaven and
on earth and under the earth' - as they expressed the totality of his rule
in their pre-scientific world view. In the 1930s Christians who opposed
the Nazis said, 'Jesus is Lord - and Hitler is not!'

Paul is not intimidated. He insists that what has happened in Christ Jesus
at a particular time in history is the Word of God (not merely our words
about our god) and the Word of hope for humanity (not merely for a few
religious Christians). Jesus is not simply a 'teacher' or 'spiritual guru'
but 'Christ Jesus' in whom God's redemptive love has been uniquely
embodied, fulfilling ancient hopes and signifying the future that awaits
the whole creation!

What Paul says here is exciting - and confronting! He describes 'Christ
Jesus' as being both in the 'form of God' and in 'human form'. This too is
a paradox. And it is bound to offend! It offends monotheists (who think it
an indignity that God be reduced to human level), atheists (who think it
an affront to humanity) and relativists (who think it arrogant to claim so
much for a religion).

In the early Church this text was much debated as theologians wrestled
with how best to understand 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: having the
outward form but not the inner substance. The outcome of 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 . . . and became
truly human for our sake'.

In him, they said, the world has been encountered by the one truly human
person who embodies the very Being of God. They firmly rejected the idea
that he was a kind of Demigod or Superman who was neither fully 'God' nor
fully 'human'. They saw in him the fullness of God's self-giving love for
all people and the true humanity for which all have been created by God.

It is not a matter of Christ having a little bit of 'divinity' and a
little bit of 'humanity'. Charles Wesley puts the paradox well when he
says 'Our God contracted to a span, incomprehensibly made man' (Australian
Hymn Book 229). He also sees the meaning of our text in saying that God's
purpose for humanity has been uniquely displayed by the fact that 'he
emptied himself of all but love' (Australian Hymn Book 138).

It is clear that the love of Christ Jesus is not sentimental but
sacrificial. Unlike us, who act as little gods, lord it over others and
blow our own trumpets, he obeyed his Father's will unto death on the
cross. He embodied the self-giving love of God for humanity and the
humanity for which we have been created in the image of God, but failed to
reflect. In him we see who God is and who we are called to be!

He is not 'exalted' because he has superhuman powers but because he
embodies the self-giving love of God for us and the self-giving response
to God that is required of us to be fully human.

Here is a word to shake-up and encourage our parish (and every parish)!
Any desire that we may have to lord it over each other is named and
transformed by the example of Christ Jesus. Not only are we to 'believe'
in Christ Jesus (Uniting in Worship p128). We are called to 'let the same
mind be in us that was in him' (v5). We are not to let distorted forms of
humanity rule us but look to the 'One who, being in the form of God, did
not grasp at divine power, but became obedient to death on a cross'.

Such are the privileges and demands of being followers of Christ!

Paul, however, is not promoting parish harmony for its own sake. The
'Christ Hymn' celebrates the Church's faith in 'Jesus Christ as Lord' of
all creation ('in heaven and on earth and under the earth'). It is a call
to mission. To be of 'one mind in Christ' means to be united in declaring
the Gospel in societies and cultures where life is dehumanised when people
aspire to become like God (and lord it over others) instead of emptying
themselves of all but love.

In Australia today we find it hard to believe that Christ's self-emptying
love could trigger such a response. Like public-spirited Romans of old, we
think that Christianity should simply help us tolerate other people's
religious choices - provided they leave 'private space' for our form(s) of
religion.

Of course, we are vaguely aware of Christians suffering elsewhere. The
Religious Liberty Network reminds us of persecution in other parts of the
world. But we should not assume that similar things cannot or do not
happen here, albeit it in a more outwardly 'civilised' form! Our human
dignity as persons made in the image of God is being trampled in many
places by those who are hostile to the way of sacrificial love, thinking
that being 'like God' is a prize to be grasped.

Opposition to such actions will involve suffering. Like Christ, who was
obedient to death (on a cross) and Paul, who was imprisoned (for preaching
the cross), we must expect conflict (1:29,30) and stand firm in the public
square to witness to the servant Lordship of Christ Jesus. The message of
the crucified Lord who has been exalted is unpopular with custodians of
secular religion who are more concerned to protect diverse forms of belief
and practice than to believe the truth that the world has been encountered
by the fully human being of God in the Christ Jesus.

In such situations we can take heart that the 'servant Christ' who was
crucified for our sake is now the 'exalted Lord of heaven and earth'
(v11). His humble obedience and glorious exaltation is cause for exuberant
praise and sacrificial service in the present and the source of hope that,
at the last, humanity and the whole creation shall be transformed in his
image!

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Rev Dr Max Champion is minister in the St John's Uniting Church,
Mt Waverley, Victoria, Australia. Dr Champion is Chair of the Assembly of
Confessing Congregations within the UCA.