God A Slave?

Sunday I once again heard the reading, from Philippians, that tells of of God’s humbling himself -- becoming a slave -- to live the reality of Himself in the skin of Jesus.

It was the third reading assigned for Passion Sunday. 

A reading that got lost, as it often does, in the story of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem for the Passover feast.

In the Passion story, from Matthew 26, we heard about the crowds who were celebrating a man.  A simple man riding on a donkey, who for some unknown reason, the people seemed extremely excited about having him in their midst.

Now there probably have been sermons on the third reading for Palm Sunday; but I have never heard of one.   And, by the way, I never even considered preaching one.

As is so often the case, the truth of who the simple man really was had gotten lost in the politics and customs of the day.

So, today I invite you to focus on Philippians 2 that tell of of a not so simple man — God himself wrapped in human skin.

God Almighty, who leaves all of his power, authority, divine glory and all control over his creation and — emptied himself, —  becoming a fully human man.  

⁶ who, though he was in the form of God,

   did not regard equality with God

   as something to be exploited, 

⁷ but emptied himself,

   taking the form of a slave,

   being born in human likeness.

And being found in human form, 

⁸   he humbled himself

   and became obedient to the point of death—

   even death on a cross.

The way the Paul writes about this, extraordinarily amazing, event makes it sound so uncomplicated and not at all problematic.

Just everyday kind of stuff.

Now I just want to say it is anything but uncomplicated. And very problematic.

God Almighty, the Creator of all that is — ⁸ humbled himself.

The Divine Power and Glory became “a slave.”

Now please,  

               Come on,

                            that is anything but simple,

                                                                       it is HUGE.

What brought this all to my mind yesterday was something I read in Cynthia Bourgeault’s book ‘Wisdom Jesus’; in her discussion on incarnation (p.93):

“I remember years ago being struck by an insight from the contemporary mystic Bernadette Roberts that crucifixion wasn’t the hard thing for Jesus, the hard thing was incarnation.  Crucifixion and what followed….were simply the pathway along which infinite consciousness could return to its natural state.  What was really hard for infinite consciousness was to come into the  finite world in the first place.  With nothing to gain from the human adventure — nothing to prove, nothing to achieve , and a dangerously unboundaried heart that left him defenseless against the hard edges of the world — Jesus came anyway:  that, claims Bernadette Roberts, was the real crucifixion.”

As we move through Holy Week, in the strangeness of this year.  Lets all take this opportunity to consider the, all to familiar, Passion and Easter stories in a new — more enlightened — way.

Maybe we could start again from the very beginning of Jesus’ life when God came into the world in a baby born in a manger.

When the angels announce the coming to peace on earth.