B: Palm Sunday

St. Stephens Harrisburg

What does it mean to imitate Christ?

Undoubtedly it means different things to different people. It’s meant different things in different ages. In the 13th century, to St. Francis and his followers, it meant renouncing family and wealth, and any kind of material possessions. It meant simplicity and poverty, in keeping with Christ’s life. It meant begging for bread, working with the sick, and great obedience. Before he died, St. Frances purportedly received the Stigmata, the wounds of Christ in his own body, as part of his identification with Christ. It was the goal of the early Franciscans to imitate both Christ’s poverty and his wandering homelessness.

Are you ready to take this on? Ready to try it?

Fortunately, in our epistle today, Paul puts it a bit differently when he tells us to have the same mind, the same attitude, as Christ Jesus. We are to let the same mind be in us as was in Christ, to make our minds like Christ, to align our minds with Christ. But this is not just about our individual inner minds and attitudes, but more with how we relate to others. The “you” in the passage is plural. Perhaps a better translation is to “think this among or between yourselves.” Our relationship with each other should be characterized by the attitude of Christ, and in the next few verses Paul explains this.

Even though Christ, in his very nature, in his form, was God, equal to God, Paul says that Jesus did not consider his equality with God as something to be exploited, something to cling to. It was not an advantage or privilege but in fact led Jesus to empty himself and take the role of a slave. Christ made himself nothing, nullified his god-ness and took the nature of a slave in human likeness. A slave had no rights, so Christ did not hold on to any rights that would have been his as God. He gave up the privileges of deity and became a slave, in human form. He became identified with his humanity. Christ became human in the same sense, in the same way that makes each of us truly human. He manifested his deity by humbling himself to be a human slave. Mark 10:45 says that the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life for the ransom of many.

Paul next expresses the Deity of Christ as one who humbled himself to appear as a man, and to suffer death—even death on a cross. Jesus took the form of a slave, but went even lower when he obediently suffered death like on of us, but this death was by crucifixion. This was the lowest and most humiliating, the cruelest form of death. It was a death reserved for the lowest classes of people—it would have been extremely rare for any Roman citizen to be crucified. Citizenship had its privileges. But to be crucified usually involved various forms of torture and abuse even before being fastened to the cross by impaling, nailing, binding with ropes, or some combination. If the preliminary torture was not too severe, death would come slowly, perhaps over a period of days, as the victim suffered from thirst, hunger, suffocation, and blood loss—and the attacks of wild animals. A horrible way to die.

In submitting to death by crucifixion, Christ denied all of his rights, going from the Glory and exaltation of his triumphant entry into Jerusalem on what we call Palm Sunday . . . to the lowest of lows in his death by crucifixion on Good Friday—because of his love for humanity as an expression of his deity.

So Christ in his deity denied his rights by making himself nothing by becoming a human and a slave, and by humbling himself in his obedience to suffering and death on a cross.

And now God the Father takes center stage. After Christ’s humility and obedience, God took the initiative and exalted Jesus to the highest place and he gave Jesus the name that is above every name. Jesus was exalted to a place of superiority over all of creation; when he ascended to heaven to be seated at the right hand of the Father his superiority is clearly revealed. And God gave him the name that is above every name. A name fitting for one equal to God, a name that would be acknowledged by all. And so, at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Jesus Christ is Lord!

So Christ is held up as an example to the church at Philippi and to us. If we are faithful, humble, and obedient, we too will receive the prize. We will attain the goal. “Just as Christ’s faithfulness will lead to the universal acknowledgment of his position, so their [and our] faithfulness will lead to identity with Christ and resurrection from the dead on the last day.”( Thielman, Frank. The NIV Application Commentary: Philippians p. 122. )

Christ is presented as an example to the Philippians and to us. We are to pursue humility and put the needs and interests of others before our own, not counting our rights, but imitating Christ Jesus who didn’t hold on to the rights or power or privilege that being equal to God would give him. Instead Christ became a slave, the lowest of the low, and was obedient even to death. We are to pursue the same kind of obedience, and if we are faithful and obedient as Christ was faithful and obedient, the last day, the judgment day, will bring our exaltation.

When we believe and say that Jesus is Lord, we seek to imitate Christ, and our lives will be lives of humility, of self-giving service and obedience. Our relationships with others, which each other, will be characterized by humility, service and obedience. And God works in us to accomplish this. He works in us to help us to be humble. He helps us to serve. He helps us to be obedient. And on the last day we will have to give an account of our relationships with those around us. And we pray that we will hear these words: “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of the Master” (Matt 25:21).