By Ife J. Ibitayo
In honor of Easter, I want to consider Apostle Paul’s explanation for why Jesus came down to earth as explained in Philippians 2:6-11.
Humility
Philippians 2:6-7a says, “Though He was God, He did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, He gave up His divine privileges; He took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being.”
Sometimes we can forget how great Jesus already was. He was the Divine, the Word of the Father. He formed all creatures, and all creatures were already subject to Him. They worshiped Him night and day in heaven, and He exalted and condemned them with a mere thought.
Yet the King above all Kings, the Lord above all Lords humbled Himself. From our point of view, this choice is utterly inexplicable. Title, power, and influence are par and parcel to worldly greatness. No earthly leader would exchange the glory of the throne for the obscurity of a manger.
But from the beginning, kingdom priorities have always been the opposite of earthly ones. In Mark 10:43-44, Jesus proclaimed that greatness was to be found through service, preeminence through submission. And He practiced what He preached. He gave up everything in order to give us everything.
Humiliation
But Jesus did not stop with humility, He stooped to humiliation. Philippians 2:7b-8 says, “When he appeared in human form, He humbled Himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.” For Jesus to relinquish His divine privileges to embrace humanity is one thing, but for Him to be mislabeled as a criminal, a miscreant, the scum of society is another thing altogether.
Prophesying about Jesus, Isaiah said, “He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on Him, and by His wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5 NIV). Jesus became God’s punching bag on the cross. He endured the brutal body blows we deserved because of our sins. And the very people He suffered for thought that He–not they–was guilty (Isaiah 53:4).
Honor
Yet Jesus’ story does not end with disgrace. Philippians 2:9-11 says, “Therefore, God elevated Him to the place of highest honor and gave Him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Notice the “therefore” in this passage. God the Father did not raise His Son to glory in spite of the humility and humiliation He endured but because of them.
In the verses proceeding this amazing passage, Apostle Paul says, “Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had” (Philippians 2:3-5 NLT).
Therefore we must remind ourselves daily that the path to Christlikeness is a path to glory, but we’ll find it through humility rather than hubris, and humiliation rather than exaltation.
Happy Easter!
“We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.”
(Hebrews 12:2 NLT)