God in Human Form

God in Human Form

Philippians 2:5-11

            Have you ever received one of those Christmas cards that talks as much about the cross as it does about Christ’s birth?  I understand the reason for those cards.  We must never forget that the ultimate purpose for Christ’s life on earth was to die on the cross.  Jesus’ death and resurrection was what God intended to accomplish.  Still, combining Christmas and Easter does seem to be rushing things a bit, don’t you think? 

            My wife has a difficult time with those cards.  “Why can’t we focus on Christmas for a while,” she’ll say when we open one.  And she has a point.  We have a season of the Christian year when we prepare for Easter; it’s called Lent.  I know—we don’t send Easter cards nearly as often as we send Christmas cards, so Christmas is a good time to remember both events; but shouldn’t we spend at least some time focusing on the beginning of Christ’s life? 

            My answer is a resounding “Yes!”  As I have said before in this space, there was more to Jesus’ life than his death and resurrection—as important as they are.  His life is important too, because it is through Jesus’ life that we learn how to live.  It is through his time on earth that we discover what it means to be human—human in the most perfect way we can be human; the way Jesus Christ was human.

            All this is relevant to our Scripture passage for today, which is usually associated with Easter, especially verses 9-11:  “Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed upon him a name above all other names…”—and we should celebrate these words.  God raised Jesus to everlasting glory.  Because Jesus lives we too shall live.  Yes, Jesus is Lord of all creation, but his human life began in a stable in a small Judean town.

            God is a God of paradox, and we can see it in the beginning verses of this passage.  Jesus Christ, although being in the form of God, made himself nothing, a nobody—a baby born to a peasant couple of no importance outside their little community.  Once born, he humbled himself by becoming a servant.  He showed his disciples how to be a leader.  “You want to be important in God’s order of things?  Become everybody’s servant—not just the servant of a few people, or the very rich, or those you love.  Learn to serve everyone.”  The one whom God exalts is the one who learns the humility of servanthood.

            Emmanuel, God with us in human form, began his time on earth as a helpless infant, not able to walk, not able to feed himself, not able to do one thing to affect the world around him.  He grew as any human child grows, through infancy, through childhood, through his teen years, to adulthood.  Once again, as God had done many times before, God turned weakness into strength.  God’s power was proved through Jesus. 

Therefore, we have no excuse.  No excuse about being too weak and powerless to accomplish anything for God.  No excuse about being too good to do servant work for God.  No excuse about not having time to do God’s work, or not being rich enough, or not having enough status.  Jesus Christ, the baby in the manger, takes away all our excuses and shows them for what they really are—insufficient reasons given by those who will do anything to avoid the work God calls us to do.

True, we must never lose sight of Jesus Christ, God on the cross, come to reconcile us to God.  But we must also never lose sight of Jesus Christ, God in a manger—incarnate in the helplessness of a baby, come to show us how to live, and how to serve.