Thursday, April 2, 2020

Passion Sunday Year A - Philippians 2:5-11

Philippians 2:5-11
Though he was in every way God, Christ Jesus did not consider equality with God something to be exploited, but emptied himself of power and taking on the form of a servant was himself exploited by the cross. Emptying oneself of power does not come naturally to us for we are inclined to hang onto every shred of power we can cling to, even in the current Covid-19 pandemic which clearly exposes the illusion of power. The virus is an invisible "bug" and it has turned our world upside down. But those who won't give up personal "power" by Spring breaking or gathering for Covid-19 parties, or worse, claiming that the "church" is exempt from stay at home orders or social distancing because of first amendment rights or special spiritual status act as if nothing has changed and they can do whatever they like. It is the height of hubris. The apostle Paul exhorts his Philippian “partners in the Gospel” and by extension we who read these words to do the opposite and have the mind of Christ. Jesus emptied himself of the kind of power the world would cling to and picked up the cross which in the end was the power of God no one anticipated or indeed, understood. In what appears to be defeat, love conquers hate; light banishes darkness; life destroys death. All because Christ Jesus let go of being God in order to pick up our humanity. Which means the mind of Christ is the mind of God and that is good news indeed.

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