A friend invited me to Maundy Thursday at her church. They had a simple meal of soup, hummus, pita, fruit salad (and the surprise treat of dates). Then my friend preached a short word on how Holy Week is the time to allow the LORD to draw us back to himself, when we should renew our bond with him, even as we contemplate his being betrayed and abandoned by his friends, his being stripped of all honor, glory, dignity.
In all this, Philippians 2 kept coming to mind. There Paul is exhorting the Philippians to be servants of those around them and not be self-seeking. Paul then gives us the passion of Jesus of Nazareth as our template.
Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Phil 2:5-8 NASB)
The Creator of the Universe, God Almighty did not lord over us when Adam and Eve sinned. God had every right to terminate humanity at that point. Adam and Eve had believed a treacherous lie, and their treason was punishable by death. No, instead, “the LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them” (Gen 3:21).
We read very quickly over this verse and do not contemplate what it means. Where did God get the skins? Surely, God, in his mercy, killed two sheep to atone for Adam and Eve’s sin and so used the skins to cloth them. Already God was himself mediating on our behalf as priest (see Hebrews).
So, in Roman-occupied Israel 2,000 years ago, God came down and became a human. God came down and took on weak, frail skin and bones. He does not lord over us. He washes our feet. He tends to our wounds. He ministers to the broken places in our souls.
Jesus didn’t grasp at his being God. He emptied himself of all glory, honor, dignity. He didn’t grasp at his authority. As Jesus tells Peter, he could have called legions of angels to save him at his arrest (Matt 26:53). He doesn’t because the Father and the Son decided at the foundation of the world (Rev 13:8c) that we would be clothed in the righteousness of the Son, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29).
So, on a clear Maundy Thursday night, as the Passover moon rose over the Pennsylvania hills, I contemplated this and saw something so beautifully astounding. Jesus emptied himself so we can be filled. He gave up health and bodily strength so we can be healed (Is 53:5). He didn’t grasp at his authority over all creation so that we can be filled with authority to preach the Kingdom, to heal the sick, to minister to the broken places in people’s souls. He was abandoned by (nearly) all his closest friends so that he can add to us brothers and sisters and friends that stick closer than siblings. He hung naked near a busy road so we can be clothed in his royal robes.
For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Phil 2:9-11)
Amen.
