Passion / Palm Sunday
Devotional
Water From the Rock
Lectionary Devotional for Cycle C
Object:
Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus....
-- Philippians 2:5
The world looks different if we strive to see it through the eyes of Christ. If the church is the body and Christ is the head, then Christ transforms the way in which we approach decision-making. To affirm that God has established the church to be the extension of Christ's body on earth could lead to a sense of pride and feelings of superiority. Then we hear Paul's words about Jesus. He "who, 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." Have we accepted advantages that society offers us as benefits that belong to us? What would it mean for a church to refuse to exploit any advantages that might accrue to it as a Christian community? If the church deliberately set out to be a slave for the world, how would it affect its behavior and decision-making? Masters see slaves as existing totally for the master's benefit. The idea of slaves acting in a manner that benefited themselves or even protected themselves, if such behavior was to the detriment of the master, was not conceivable.
Paul said of Jesus: "He humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death -- even death on a cross." For the church to have the same mind in themselves as was in Christ Jesus would be to defy the normal wisdom of the world that suggests that institutions and people will always act first to protect and benefit themselves. The church has suffered many conflicts both internally and externally in its history, but rarely does that conflict occur because the church was truly seeking to be a servant willing to focus on the needs of others around it. It is only by faith that we can challenge the wisdom of the world "so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, 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." It seems to be sheer foolishness until one recognizes that Easter celebrates God's triumph over the wisdom of the world. If you look through the eyes of Christ, what do you see?
-- Philippians 2:5
The world looks different if we strive to see it through the eyes of Christ. If the church is the body and Christ is the head, then Christ transforms the way in which we approach decision-making. To affirm that God has established the church to be the extension of Christ's body on earth could lead to a sense of pride and feelings of superiority. Then we hear Paul's words about Jesus. He "who, 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." Have we accepted advantages that society offers us as benefits that belong to us? What would it mean for a church to refuse to exploit any advantages that might accrue to it as a Christian community? If the church deliberately set out to be a slave for the world, how would it affect its behavior and decision-making? Masters see slaves as existing totally for the master's benefit. The idea of slaves acting in a manner that benefited themselves or even protected themselves, if such behavior was to the detriment of the master, was not conceivable.
Paul said of Jesus: "He humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death -- even death on a cross." For the church to have the same mind in themselves as was in Christ Jesus would be to defy the normal wisdom of the world that suggests that institutions and people will always act first to protect and benefit themselves. The church has suffered many conflicts both internally and externally in its history, but rarely does that conflict occur because the church was truly seeking to be a servant willing to focus on the needs of others around it. It is only by faith that we can challenge the wisdom of the world "so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, 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." It seems to be sheer foolishness until one recognizes that Easter celebrates God's triumph over the wisdom of the world. If you look through the eyes of Christ, what do you see?
