Good Friday 2020 The Great Condescension

History is written by the winner, with the concept of all conquering hero. Our gods saved us.

The bible is totally different. And yet it has survived.

In Philippians 2:5-8 says Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross!

Even death on a cross. Not just that He died for us – but that He died for us on a cross.

There’s an old hymn that says, “on a hill, far away, stood an old rugged cross – the emblem of suffering and shame”.

We wear crosses around our necks and put ornamented and adorned crosses on our walls, or get them tattooed on our shoulders…how has this emblem of suffering and shame evolved into a decorative feature? No one tattoos a lethal injection syringe or gas chambers on themselves. No one hangs a painting of gallows on their wall.

1st century Jewish historian Josephus wrote of the Jewish protest for the most pitiable of deaths. 1st century Roman orator Cicero said the crucifixion was crudelissimum taeterrimumque supplicium the most cruel and terrifying penalty.

The letter that Paul is writing starts at the highest point – with God! Then descends into humanity, and goes to the lowest point of humanity – death on a cross.

This death was designated for those relegated to the ranks of slaves and rebels. We know of the gladiator uprising north of Rome, made infamous in Spartacus, and that the road to Rome was lined with the rebels hanging on crosses, dying for days, designed to put the fear of God – God being Caeser, into anyone who thought that they could rail against the status quo. 6000 men, crucified along the 130 miles – one cross every 40 odd metres. Exposed to the elements, to the carrion creatures, to the shame of the onlookers who would be desperate to not expose themselves to an image that would plague their waking thoughts and haunt their dreams.

NT Wright writes “By 6 in the evening on Good Friday, according to the early Christians, the world was a different place”.

We see life as a ladder, often. That we start out at a certain rung, and we do what we can to keep progressing on those rungs. The perception of progression is different for everybody. For some, it’s financial freedom. I need to get to the place where I am financially secure, where I can withstand any storm, where my family and I are provided for. I’m climbing the rungs, until I get to that place.

Progression for others looks like amassed things. A car, another car, a house, a boat, a jetski, a holiday house.

Amassed experiences. First rung is travelling here. Next rung is experiencing this. Ticking off items on the bucket list.

Every now and then we might deign to climb down a rung or two for someone else. Extreme times like war or pandemics. In high school I had to memorise and present a poem, called Dulce et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen. It was about the World War One and is incredibly descriptive in it’s prose about the suffering that soldiers went through, the cold, the trenches, the coughing and hacking, the marching, the limping, the fatigue, the fear, the pain, the witnessing of the hideous death that gas brings…ending with a desire to expose the lie “dulce et decorum est pro patria mori”. It is sweet and fitting to die for one’s country. The notion is one thing, the practise something else altogether. And death in a war is heroic. The crucifixion was not seen as heroic.

Paul describes Jesus as climbing down the ladder. Rung by rung, He condescends, descending lower and lower. Listen to the language “didn’t grasp”, “made himself nothing”, “humbled himself”, “became obedient” – not to His father, though He did, not to the eternal plan, though he did, but he became obedient to death. Submitted himself, and not just death, but the most shameful death.

I recently read a book that I think would probably offend a lot of Christians. It was given to me for Christmas, and was a historical fiction, written by an author who is not a Christian. It was about the characters of the early church, and because the author doesn’t love or follow Jesus, for me it was a fascinating perspective. Without the Judaeo-Christian moral imperatives, he was able to write in graphic, non-sanitised, non-censored detail about the first century environment. Being an author with a brilliant reputation, his research needed to be thorough and accurate. What stood out to me most, apart from being so glad to be born in this country in this timestamp, was the reaction of the people of the first century when they were told that Jesus was crucified. This was unfathomable and contradictory. How on earth could you ask someone to follow someone who had been crucified? Those crucified were seen as the most wretched on the earth. Nothing more loathsome or debased.

In this passage, Paul is writing a poem here. As is so frequent in Paul’s writings, the structure is a mirroring. In the first section, Jesus climbs down the ladder to the very lowest rung. In the second section He is lifted to the very highest height.

Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped but , made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross!

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of god the Father.

It has been supposed that this prose in the book of Philippians could have been a hymn that Paul is quoting. The first part says why His death matters; the second part speaks to who He is. And after quoting the supposed hymn, Paul says, therefore: in light of that, in light of this life that didn’t climb a ladder but came down the ladder, every step of their life marching towards this climactic event that we celebrate today and that culminates on Sunday, therefore, my dear friends, continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.

This passage says in light of Good Friday, we must continue to work out – now, here’s where language gets hard – work…part of what we are told in the Christian faith is that you can’t work for your salvation…that it is a gift, given by grace, through faith in Jesus Christ. So, if it’s not that kind of work, to work out…do you mean like work it out? Like it’s this crazy confusing thing that we have to try and figure it out? Will we ever plumb the depths of it? Will the mystery ever have complete clarity, or are we seeing like in a mirror, dimly?

No, not work. Not work out, not figure it out. No, outwork. The instruction is both collective and personal. As people part of this faith, salvation should look like something amongst you. And it shouldn’t be grasping for the next rung. It should be serving each other, even if you feel like you are going down a few rungs. And you personally…your faith in Jesus should mean that your humility, your submission to God and your service to humanity is part of you outworking your salvation. You got given something – now go work it out in community, and individually.

With fear and trembling – I don’t know about you but what that conjures up for me is someone so scared that they are shaking. Not so. Paul uses the exact phrase in two other passages in different letters, about the attitude we need to have with each other. It describes a humility and sincerity of heart, and Paul is writing to them as a collective saying, work out what this group of people who are serving Jesus together looks like, as a collective with a common faith, how will you treat each other – it better be with sincerity, with humility, it had better look like Jesus.

And if you are thinking whoa! This is a tough ask! Then, it’s ok. Because this is how the passage finishes.

For it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.

The NLT says it like this:

For God is working in you giving you the desire and the power to do what is good.

This concept is right through scripture, and it is such an amazing comfort to those who wonder how on earth they are going to live this Christian life. Us, being equipped with everything we need to do His will, and not only that, Him working IN us what is pleasing to Him.

I would like to finish here at this ladder today, and pose the question that Paul posed. You’re your attitude be the same as that of Christ Jesus? Will you go down on the rungs of the ladder in order to serve others? On this Good Friday as we remember the depths to which He plunged for us, will you determine how you will out work this with others? Our world needs this more than ever.

May you, may we all, be those who are willing to live in humility and sincerity of heart. May you, may we all, be those who are willing to serve. And may you, may we all, not lose heart as we acknowledge that God is working in us to will and to act according to His good purpose. Or as Hebrews 13:20-21 puts it:

May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead, our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever Amen.