Hello my friends,

I hope this finds you well.

As I reflect on the resurrection of Jesus, which we celebrated last Sunday, I find myself thinking about the humility displayed by Jesus and what implications that has for how we understand God and Christianity as well. I want to ponder that with you today.

But before I do, here are some resources to consider if you want to dive deeper into this topic.

RESOURCES:

-I was recently given the book, "The Word of a Humble God: The Origins, Inspiration, and Interpretation of Scripture." by Karen R. Keen. I have not begun to read it yet, but I am excited to get started. Karen works to bring together both historical criticism and theology, this investigation examines ancient scribal culture through the lens of faith. What we find is a divine-human collaboration that points to the character of God and the value of human agency. If you also pick this up, let me know. It would be great to know we are reading it together.

-In October of 2021, the podcast Hidden Brain had a fantastic episode on humility, in which is said, “we should be humble about what we think we know, and even humble about what we can know.” When we judge the bad choices of the past, sociologist Duncan Watts says in this episode that we should strive for “epistemic humility” — a realization that our information is always incomplete. The episode is called "The Halo Effect." I think you will find this as fascinating as I did.

-I just finished up teaching a 4 week class on the Book of Revelation and was again reminded of how phenomenal Dr. Gorman's book is on the subject. It's called "Reading Revelation Responsibly: Uncivil Worship and Witness: Following the Lamb into the New Creation." Not only does he give such a needed lens to our interpretation of such a complex and often misunderstood part of the Bible, but it points yet again to humility being the way Jesus exercises power. Yes, even in the Book of Revelation. I highly recommend this book.

Okay, onto today's content.

The Humility of God.

Humility does not mean humiliation or shame.

It doesn’t mean allowing yourself to be walked on and never to be taken seriously.

A great definition of humility I heard recently is "to hold power in service of others." -John Dickson

Humility is the choice to forgo status and use any power and influence for the good of others before ourselves.

If you have read my writings for awhile or heard me preach, I know you have heard this passage from me often, but let’s take a look at Philippians 2 again. The God revealed in Christ.

Imitating Christ’s Humility

2 Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God,
 did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 7 rather, he made himself nothing
 by taking the very nature of a servant,
 being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man,
 he humbled himself
 by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross! -Philippians 2:2-8

What leaves me so floored about this passage, every time, is the radical nature of what is being described here.

Paul is describing a cosmic, infinite God becoming a human being. As I pointed out in my sermon last Sunday, I used the "gospel in chairs" to illustrate two different interpretations of the gospel. (You can watch it here, at the 35:00 mark).

There is a popular version of the gospel that sees Jesus only as God’s son, who was given as a sacrifice for the world in order to satisfy God’s wrath towards the world.

Yet, when we hold to the more ancient, more historical version of the gospel, Jesus is not seen as one who placates God or "satisfies" God, but the actual revelation of God in the world! Christ is seen as the very incarnation of God in flesh and blood.

This is how the early church would have seen Jesus, as is shown in the Chalcedonian Creed of 451 AD, where Jesus is confessed as being "fully human, fully God."

When this is our belief about Jesus, scriptures like Philippians 2 become even more groundbreaking. It makes the claim that a cosmic, infinite God, who has never even experienced a limitation of any kind, becomes a finite human being.

Just like us.

For the first time, this God experiences being born, aging, hunger, thirst, pain, uncertainty, and even death.

For the first time, this God experiences not knowing exactly how the future would play out just like we do.

For the first time, this God experiences what it was like to be confined in one single point in history, just like we do.

We are not omniscient or omnipresent. We can’t know everything or be everywhere at once. (Honestly, that sounds really stressful).

Yet, this God became human in this way, giving up all those things to be one of us.

The incarnation is an all powerful God becoming a servant to all.

Humility is holding power in service to others. It is the choice to forgo status and use any power and influence for the good of others before ourselves.

The incarnation is the furthest God went to be with us. Never before in the scriptures did God become a human being. This is radical. What is more, this God would go further still, even into death. For us. With us.

In fact, I would say that all throughout the scriptures, we see God still trying to get low and come near to us.

We see God coming down to walk in the garden with humanity in the beginning, every morning.

We see God coming down to make a covenant with Abraham, taking the submissive end of the covenant. (Genesis 15).

We see God coming down to give the ten commandments to Israel, to reconcile the people.

We see God coming down and living within the tabernacle, then the temple, then finally as a human being.

God has always been trying to come and meet us on our level.

It reminds me of these words from Jesus to his disciples: “Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant.” -Matthew 20:25-26

This is not just meant to be how disciples of Jesus are supposed to live. Jesus is revealing how God lives with us. Jesus is revealing how God exercises authority and power.

After all, how would Jesus go on to reveal his power and authority? A cross. God's greatness is revealed by humility, holding power in service to others. Jesus did this for the whole world by the cross.

God has always tried to come and be the servant among humanity.

This has always made me think, “why are we always looking up for God, as if God is in some high, lofty, far off place? We should be looking down here. We often call Jesus "Emmanuel," after all, which means "God with us.”

We should be looking here, for God with us.

We should be looking for wherever people are being cared for, served, loved, dignified, and valued, for there is the God revealed by Christ Jesus.

We should be looking for humility.

I deeply believe humility is one of if not the fundamental reason we still talk about Jesus today.

We still talk about him because of how he redefined "greatness." How he revealed God, taking all power and glory, and lowering himself, becoming a servant.

When all the other emperors and kings of the world rattle their sabers and strut their lethal power over others, this God revealed in Christ, used power for and with others.

If what we Christians claim is true, and I believe it is, that the cross is at the center of history, that it is the greatest revelation of God in the world, the self giving of the almighty, then humility is and will always will be, at the center of our reality as Christians.

My prayer is to see this humility of Christ not only become the definition of "greatness" within Christianity again, but be "imitated" within Christianity again.

A Christianity that does not see its relationship with God, humanity, or any source of power as something to be exploited for its own interests.

A Christianity that does not seek its own power and authority over others, but a Christianity that seeks the interests of others before its own, and seeks to share power for and with others.

What a gift that would be.

As always, thank you for reading. Thank you for being here. Thank you for your messages. Thank you for putting up with the words of a tired pastor the week after Easter. Thank you for being a constant source of encouragement to me and a constant source of growth for me as well.

Let me know if you have any thoughts to add to this topic of the humility we see revealed in Christ. Let me know if you would have anything else to add.

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Thank you all for reading and for all the ways you support me and this project every week.

I look forward to hearing from you.

-Ben

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