Giving up Immunity (Mother Beth)

 [Christ Jesus], though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited,
but emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form,
he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death--
even death on a cross.
Therefore God also highly exalted him
and gave him the name that is above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
 
The most important word in this beautiful poem from Philippians 2 is probably not what we think it is. This elegant text, perhaps from an early hymn, lays out for us first the glory and deity of the divine Christ, co-equal, co-eternal with his Father, then how he emptied all that out in becoming human and suffering death on a Cross, and finally his subsequent exaltation as Lord  above heaven and earth so that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow.
 
What might be the most important word in this profound passage of the New Testament? Perhaps one of the verbs, describing the great actions God took in becoming human? Emptied, being born, humbled, exalted? Or one of the nouns? God, death, cross, heaven, Lord, glory?
 
All those words are significant, of course -- but I would like to suggest that the real most important word in Philippians 2 might be “Therefore.”
 
[Christ Jesus], though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited,
but emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form,
he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death--
even death on a cross.
Therefore God also highly exalted him
and gave him the name that is above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
 
Therefore. In Christianity, God’s greatest act is to become one of us, to empty out his prerogatives in Christ and meet humanity at our lowest point, to experience vulnerability, pain, and death. Because he did that, the text says, Jesus can be God for everyone. Because he did that, his name is above every name. Because he did that, therefore, he is our God. Jesus is Lord not because he has power, but because he gave it up. Not because he is full, but because he was empty. Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name.
 
We are in a time of bitter division in our country, as well as of challenges to our personal emotional health and our own ability to cope. We are concerned about our republic and about our planet. We have lost over 200,000 lives to the virus in the US alone. Not to mention all the personal agonies of one kind or another some of us have passed through this year.
 
In this time, we need Philippians 2. We need to turn to a God who has come into the middle of all this pain, who has entered the human condition and stood with us, uniting himself to us. Not a deity who stands aloof and impassive above it. Not a spiritual force it’s up to us to use to use to fix the world or fix ourselves. We need a God who doesn’t just appeal to our hopes and dreams, but who also understands our anger and despair. This is the God who dies on the Cross for us and rises again.
 
The Anglican theologian and preacher John Stott wrote, “I could never myself believe in God, if it were not for the cross. The only God I believe in is the One Nietzsche ridiculed as ‘God on the cross.’ In the real world of pain, how could one worship a God who was immune to it?”
 
We worship Jesus, Philippians 2 tells us, precisely because he gave up his immunity to pain. Out of pure love, he united the human vulnerability he took on to the human vulnerability you and I can’t help having. He came to where we are and embraced us, and – therefore – held in that embrace we are lifted back up along with him into the very being of God.