Today
is Palm Sunday…but you
already know that. The children have processed into our sanctuary, waving their
palm branches. You have already received one…maybe you will use it
throughout the year as a book mark or place it conspicuously behind a picture
frame on the wall. I hope that you will keep it in sight because it is a silent
reminder that you are a follower of the cross
On Palm Sunday, in every
liturgical church in the world, the Scriptures for Palm Sunday are read. And the classic Scripture from the second
chapter of Philippians is also read during the service: “For Christ did not count equality with
God a thing to be grasped, but he humbled himself, taking the form of a
servant, being perfectly obedient until death.
Therefore, God has exalted him above all others and bestowed upon him
the name that is above every name. That
at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow in heaven and earth. At the name of
Jesus, every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.”
Those
are achingly beautiful words
aren’t they? But do they ever make
you wonder ‘why’? Why
Jesus? Why did God exalt Jesus to be
king? Why is it that at the name of Jesus, we and all heavenly angels are to
fall on our knees? At the name of Jesus, we are to lift up our hands and say,
“Jesus Christ is king.” Why?
What did Jesus do that was so utterly important? What did Jesus do that placed him in such
high esteem before all angels and all people?
Was it because of the quality of his
miracles? Was it because he was so magical? Because he was the Houdini
of the
Why, for heaven’s
sake…for our sake…did God exalt Jesus?
The Biblical passage for today is
where we find the answer. It says,
“Christ did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but Christ
humbled himself, taking the form of a servant and was perfectly obedient unto
death. THEREFORE, God has exalted him above all others and has bestowed on him
a name higher than any other name. That
at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, in heaven and earth, and every
tongue confesses that Jesus Christ is Lord.”
NOT because Jesus was
some miracle worker, a happy Houdini from the
It seems to me that there is a saying of
Jesus that occurs more than any other saying. Repeatedly, Jesus said,
“He who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will
be exalted.” This teaching about humility is used some five or six times
in the Bible. If Jesus’ teaching about humility is mentioned in the Bible
some five or six times, don’t you think that the teaching must be pretty
important? I do. Another teaching of Jesus is this: “If anyone would be
my disciple, let him pick up his cross and follow me.” That teaching occurs some six or seven times,
and therefore it too must be very important. But there is still another
teaching of Jesus that is repeated even more often: “The person who would
be first will be last; and the last will be first.” That saying is found
all over the New Testament. The person who is at the foot of the table will be
moved up to the head of the table. He
who humbles himself will be exalted; the person who exalts himself in this life
will be humbled in the next. … What I am suggesting to you is that
Jesus’ important teaching about humility is repeatedly laced throughout
the whole New Testament.
On Holy Thursday Jesus washed the
disciples’ feet. As he washed
their feet, Jesus said that the greatest person in the
Jeese, maker of miracles … Son of God
… the one who was resurrected from the dead … humbled himself and
walked a life of humility and obedience. God wants us to have that same quality as
well, to have this same inner attitude that he does. It is not only Jesus, but
we ourselves who are invited to possess this same quality. Humility is the
highest virtue in the mind of God.
Today’s passage from Philippians
comes from a larger section in the Bible. Listen to the Bible verses
immediately prior to the appointed reading for this morning: “Do nothing from selfishness or
conceit. But in humility, count others
better than yourselves. Look not to your
own interests but look to the interest of others. Have this attitude among
yourselves that we find in Christ Jesus.
… For Christ did not count equality with God a thing to be
grasped, but Christ walked the path of humility and obedience therefore God has
highly exalted him.”
So again, you can clearly see from
this Bible passage that the virtue that pleases God immensely is humility and
humble obedience. According to God, the most important quality in Jesus was
humility. According to Jesus, the most important
virtue to be found in us is humility. Do
nothing from conceit. Count others better than yourselves. Look not to your own
self-fulfillment but the interest of others.
Live a life of humility. Humility
doesn’t have many buyers today.
Humility doesn’t have many takers at all. We live in our American
culture that says, “We’re number one. I’m number one. We have
the number one basketball team; the number one baseball team; the number one
musician; the number one choir; the number one artist.” Our American
culture infests and infects our hearts, saying that we have to be number
one…the best actor…the best athlete…the best whatever.
“Go for the gold in the Olympics. Who remembers who came in
second?”
It is not only being American that
puts pressure to be number one. It is also part of our human nature. You and I
struggle with trying to elevate ourselves above the next person. We take our
brains, our intelligence, our gifts that God has given to us and we often use
these gifts to be better than other people around us. There is a human tendency to elevate
ourselves above others, and we use God’s given gifts to do this. And so within our American culture and within
our human disposition, humility does not have a lot of buyers today.
I ask you now to use your imaginations. Who is a person that you know who is really
humble? Who is that person? A person who does not elevate himself or herself
above others? Who do you know who is
such a person?
Abraham Lincoln is often selected as
being the greatest giant of our presidential past. When people make a list of
the greatest American presidents who ever lived, Abraham Lincoln is most often
on the top of the list. Why is that? Because of his legislative accomplishments? No. Because he had the longest term of office? No. Because he was assassinated? No. Because
he was opposed to slavery? No. I
believe that Americans are attracted to a special quality of personality in
Abraham Lincoln; there was an unusual quality of humility to him. Humble Abe. Modest Abe. One historian
said about him: He stood tall, but he
didn’t stand above other people.
You need to hear that line again: he stood tall but not above people. That is what we are called to do. There is something very attractive about this
quality of humility in Abraham Lincoln, and it is this quality of humility that
has raised his name above all other names of American presidents.
Another person who “stands tall
but not above others” is Nelson Mandela of
In preparing this message I thought of
many people in our congregation. In fact, I went through our pictorial
directory, and so many faces and names jumped out at me. I refrain from
mentioning any names because these people would be embarrassed. There are so
many in our church that possess this inner quality,
the highest virtue of God.
None of us are attracted to people who
are conceited and full of themselves.
Use your imagination again, and think of a person or persons who are
conceited, who puff themselves up and think they are better than other human
beings? It is often more difficult to
come up with such faces in our minds, but we do. When we think of a person who is conceited
and puffed up and putting themselves above others, they are not usually
likeable people. (If my face popped instantly to mind, please do me the
kindness of keeping it quiet) Sadly,
many conceited people are often truly insecure, with deep feelings of inferiority,
and they over compensate for this by projecting an image of superiority.
None of us are attracted to people who
are essentially selfish, who think about themselves first on almost all
occasions, who worry about what they are going to get out of it, who want you
and everyone else to spend time and energy on their lives. The Bible lesson for today says that we are
to do nothing from selfishness or conceit. Conceited people may believe that
they have more charm, more intelligence, more personality, but if the emotional
glue that holds their personality together is an essential selfishness, we
don’t want to be near them.
On the other hand, Mother Teresa was
recognized the world over because of her selflessness. Her name is exalted
above all other names on earth because she embodied the opposite of
selfishness. She was totally selfless in
her giving to others, and I feel sure that you would want to be like her.
And so on this glorious Palm Sunday
morning, remember that Jesus said, “whoever exalts himself will be
humbled; whoever is humble, will be exalted.” It is one of those strange paradoxes about
life that we all gradually learn is true.
Mary Anne Biggs, Pastor
Nekoosa United
Nekoosa