Calvin Synod Herald, 2014 (115. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

2014-09-01 / 9-10. szám

CALVIN SYNOD HERALD

5

"Our Dying and Rising Savior"

Text: Philippians 2:5-11

In the epistle reading from St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians we encounter one of the mountain peaks in the New Testament. The poetry in verses 6-9 appears to be a hymn first century Christians sang as an expression of faith and devotion to Christ.

Let us hear these words again in paraphrase:

The Christ, being in the form of God did not regard equality with God as

something desperately to be grasped.

Rather he emptied himself of that divine form and took on the form of a slave And became a human being.

Being then found in human form,

he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross.

You will remember how the patriarch, Jacob, dreamed of angelic commerce on a ladder between earth and heaven. In the Philippian hymn we see that ladder cleared of all other traffic, with one bright light descending to mingle among the lights and shadows of the world.

Note the four steps down the ladder the hymn describes: (1) from heavenly to earthly life, (2) from human life to slave, (3) from slave to death and (4) from ordinary death to death on a cross.

Here is the scandal. The high and invisible God becomes lowly and accessible. This is the problem for the wise. The abstract notions about God emerge as flesh and blood realities.

There is truth here that perhaps can only be sung. Thomas a’ Kempis in the 15th century wrote words we sing to an English ballad:

O love, how deep, how broad, how high,

Beyond all thought and fantasy,

That God, the Son of God, should take Our mortal form for mortal’s sake.

“Down from his glory” - that’s the biggest step down the ladder. This is what we celebrate at Christmas when we adore the mother and child. The poet, Emily Elliott, sang:

and injustice; and, are we ready to take a stand for righteousness and holiness in our present day and age?

We are all aware of the fact that Rev. Martin Luther was on trial for his faith, he is reported to have said, "Here I stand. I cannot do otherwise. God help me." The new reformation that we so desperately need today will only come from people who have similar courage! The late great 26th President of the United States of America, Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt (1858 - 1919), once said, "No man [or, woman] is worth his [or, her] salt who is not ready at all times to risk his [or, her] body, to risk his [or, her] well-being, to risk his [or, her] life, in a great cause." There is no greater cause than the Salvation of another human being!

GD

Down from his glory, ever living story

My God and Savior came and Jesus was his name.

The poet, Harry Farrington, put it well:

I know not how that Bethlem’s babe could in the godhead be,

I only know the manger child has brought God’s life to me.

Let us celebrate! Let us worship and adore the divine humility. “And being found in human form he humbled himself.” This is the second step down the ladder.

Every time in the gospels Jesus is declared “beloved son” he goes off on mission for others:

• from his anointing at baptism to the temptation struggle in the desert;

• from the transfiguration glory to facing a struggling epileptic boy at the bottom of the mountain;

• from Peter’s confession, “You are the Christ” to Jerusalem’s denial and betrayal.

This was the incognito of our Lord. The Reformer, John Calvin, said: “The humanity of the flesh covered the divine majesty like a curtain.” A commentator in our time, Karl Barth, called it a “double obscurity,” first the human form and then the humility, subject to the whims of the crowd and hatred by the elite.

The next step down is from slave to death. He became obedient to the power of the underworld. We read in scripture “that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the Evil One, and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death.”

(Hebrews 2:14)

In this situation he feels abandoned even by the Father. As we say in the creed: “He descended to the dead,” or “into hell.”

Let us celebrate. Let us worship the divine humility.

Is there no limit to his lull descent? No! Seemingly not. Not just subjugation to death is he, but bound to death on a cross - a criminal’s capital punishment. He dies with the terribly guilty in utter shame. He dies alongside those in the electric chair, before the firing squad, under the hangman’s noose. And there is no priest to hear his final words. Innocent, he dies a criminal’s death.

The condescension of God went this far. Here in utter selfemptying he bears our sins up the ladder to the Father’s waiting heart of forgiveness.

This is our dying Savior. But then comes the great turning point in this hymn: “Therefore ... Therefore .. . Therefore.” On account of all this, “God has highly exalted him and given him a name above all others, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow and every tongue confess, ‘Jesus Christ is Lord’ to the glory of God the Father.”

Let us then celebrate. Let us worship and adore the divine humility. Let us worship and adore the God who restores our life and hope in and through our dying and rising Savior.

In the name of the Father, in the Son, through the Holy Spirit, world to its end. Amen.

David B. Bowman