Morning Devotion for Epiphany
February 28, 2022
The Invitatory
The Lord has shown forth his glory: Come let us adore him.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son: and to the Holy Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.
I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.
Reading: Philippians 2:1-11
If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,
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.
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 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.
Meditation: Jo Ann B. Jones
God chooses downward mobility against all expectations of a deity. For those who have spent a lot of time in church, it’s likely they are accustomed to the idea of God becoming human. It can be the poster statement of our faith — all around us and yet just sort of there in the background. This passage from Philippians calls us to see — again, and maybe for the first time — how radical this God is and what that means for our lives.
In the ancient world, a god who was “born in human likeness” was a self-demoting God, hardly the sort of God useful for human life. It is one thing for Zeus to become human for a day to play tricks, but it is quite another matter for the God of the universe to “empty himself taking the form of a slave,” that is, to take on flesh, become fully human, suffer and die. Who needs a God like that? This God sounds nothing like a “winner,” like a mighty deity who comes to the aid of powerless humans or like a “no nonsense-and-take-names” deity we want on our side. In fact, ancient peoples were unlikely to trust the judgment of a “loser God” who chooses this sort of downward mobility.
In the Roman Empire, dominance, victory, and ascendance signaled power and authority. How is it possible for humility, servitude, submission, even death, to signal power and authority?
Yet these key verses tell us everything about this God we need to know — that Jesus emptied himself, becoming a servant, in order to inhabit humanity fully, to incorporate human life fully into divine life. This God loves and longs for us so much that God enters into human life fully— not putting on a human suit for a day but submitting to all the indignities and joys of human life, including death.
This God does not withhold love until we rise to a divine level, but rather stoops to our level, scoops us up in all our messiness and makes us part of God’s own Life, where we are healed and saved.
And, in a twist of logic, God’s self-demotion into full humanity is the source of Jesus’ exaltation. And it is the source of ours as well. Our full, messy humanity is the ground on which we kneel to raise up glory to God.
What does this mean for how we live? This goes-against-the-grain God sets the pattern for our lives as well. Against the cultural narratives that tell us winning is everything, those who follow Jesus take on a downward mobility attitude about life. We can “have the same mind that was in Christ Jesus,” being humbled by the same love that was in Christ Jesus. And, equally counter-cultural, it is in our humbling that we become fully and deeply human and reveling in and open “to the glory of God the Father.” Amen.
The Lord's Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy Name.
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the Kingdom, the power and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.
