If his suffering and death were the whole story of Jesus, he might be a man to be pitied more than anything else—a man who had his 15 minutes of fame, but who otherwise lived in relative obscurity, a victim of the political establishment of his time, too weak and too ignorant to speak up and fight the system, a lonely and pathetic figure instead of an inspiration. But the humility of Jesus makes up just one side of the story and just one part of the hymn that Paul cites here in Philippians. While the first half of the hymn spotlights Jesus’ humility, the last half of the hymn is all about his glory.
God highly honored Jesus with a name greater than all other names, which would cause everyone to bow before him and confess that “Jesus Christ is Lord” (v. 11). Jesus was not only a man of humble circumstances who died a lowly death. He was not only a good teacher long ago. He was and is Jesus Christ, the Lord of everyone and everything. The glory of God that he had given up to become a human being still belongs to him and is revealed once more.
April Yamasaki is a pastor and the author of several books, including Christ Is for Us. Learn more at AprilYamasaki.com. Excerpted from Christ Is for Us © 2016 by Abingdon Press, an imprint of The United Methodist Publishing House. (All Scripture quotations within these excerpts are drawn from the Common English Bible © 2011.) Used by permission. All rights reserved.
