He made himself nothing

Philippians 2:1-18 (TNIV) -

1 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 attitude of mind Christ Jesus had:

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 human being,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!

9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,

10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
12 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling,

13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.
14 Do everything without grumbling or arguing,15 so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky16 as you hold firmly to the word of life. And then I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain.17 But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you.

18 So you too should be glad and rejoice with me.

My thoughts -

I love contradictions. They demand more of you than just a nod and a smile. If you're talking to someone and they say to lead you have to follow you could just stare blankly and nod and smile but you would get nothing. They engage you. They make you cock your head sideways and say "huh?". You have to think about them. You have to meditate on them. You have to live them.

Paul is pointing out for us the contradiction that was Jesus Christ and encouraging us to follow him in it. Jesus taught contradictions. Jesus taught that the first shall be last, that to gain life we have to lose it, and that if you want to lead you have to serve. I'm sure as he was teaching his followers these things they gave him some funny looks. I know I would have. I still cock my head sideways at my Bible sometimes and think for a moment "That doesn't make any sense!" But in living these teachings they start to. You can't have a superficial understanding of them, you have to live them.

Jesus himself was a contradiction. He was/is God, and yet also human. He was greater than all of Creation, in fact the Creator of all Creation and yet entered into Creation and not even as a king or a ruler or anything that we would expect but as a peasant. He who had at his fingertips the power to control the Universe became a servant to it and died a criminal, executed by the state for simply being that which he is. And though he lived the life of a peasant and died the death of a criminal we still speak the name of Jesus today, and will continue to worship him through eternity.

And here we are in further contradiction, that Jesus died is cause for our celebration. In Christ's life and in Christ's death we have, through his service and his sacrifice, a way to be reconciled to God. Because God Incarnate did not use being God to his own advantage but instead as a way to serve we have life, and hope, and reconciliation. And we are called to follow in Christ's footsteps and live as servants and to rejoice in our servanthood.

And here's the final contradiction, living as a servant, not in accordance to our own will but in accordance to the will of God, we find a life worth living. Our own way doesn't work. The things of this world, however much we can manage to acquire, are worthless. They leave us unsatisfied, longing for something greater, and that greatness is found in humble submission.

Like I said, I love contradictions.