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1If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, 2make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. 4Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. 5Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, 6who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, 7but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, 8he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross. –– Philippians 2:1-8
I’m old enough that a legendary tight end from my era has a son who is retired from the game. Nevertheless, a news story will occasionally include an iconic photo of Kellen Winslow, a Mizzou grad and Chargers pro, as he was being helped off the field following the San Diego Chargers over the Miami Dolphins in the 1981 AFC Divisional playoff game. Statistically, Winslow had a spectacular game, catching 13 passes for 166 yards and a touchdown. Not only that, but Winslow also blocked a field goal, preserving the tie that would send the game into overtime. Battling injuries, cramping, and dehydration for a good portion of the game, Winslow, 6’6’, 250 pounds, had to be helped off the field by his teammates, and in looking at the photo, it appeared questionable that any of the three would make it to the locker room.
Stories like this have birthed all manner of coaches’ cliches –– “He left it all out on the field today;” “They gave it all they had;” “What a gritty performance;” “She emptied her tank, that’s for sure.”
If Jim Nantz had shown up at Golgotha with his CBS microphone, he might have employed all those cliches along with a few more. After all, it is hard to top Jesus when it comes to giving it all. As Paul observed, “Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.” Can you hear Jim Nantz saying, “Next week, we’ll join you in Augusta for The Masters, but today all that’s left to say is that the Master emptied his gas tank for you.”
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… Christ emptied himself, yet Paul is not solely referring to the brutal physical toll of Jesus’ journey from arrest to crucifixion. Rather, in emptying himself, Paul wants us to also keep in mind God’s willingness to confine Godself to the limits of and threats to life as experienced in the flesh. In Jesus, God knew labor, thirst, and hunger; felt the sting of insult; the exposure to the elements of those numbered among the homeless; the defeated spirit of rejection; the vulnerability before powers and principalities and their murky definitions of justice. Jesus willingly exposed himself to pain, not to prove his mettle but to reveal God’s love. It’s a long way from Heaven to Golgotha, but Jesus, in emptying himself, brought a throne to Golgotha and Golgotha to heaven. Thanks be to God.
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