Proper 21A

The reading this morning from Paul’s Letter to the Philippians offers us one of the most beautiful hymns in the bible and for that reason, this morning’s sermon will focus on the epistle rather than the gospel reading.

Paul’s Letter to the Philippians is perhaps his most transparent letter — transparent, because he was writing it from prison, facing perhaps an imminent death. It is not clear whether this imminent death is one brought on by being a prisoner or a missioner — nonetheless, it weighs on Paul’s mind and influences the writing of the letter. Timothy is with Paul, mostly likely in Ephesus in the years of 54-56. If this is the case, his letter to the Philippians is written a mere two decades or so after Jesus’ death — even before the composition of the gospel according to Matthew from which we have been hearing all year.

Despite Paul’s imprisonment, he is not despondent. His imprisonment, though made difficult by the legal charge and the guards, advances the gospel since clearly he is suffering for Christ. Thanks to his example, others have been emboldened — an important character attribute to Paul — to follow his example and preach the gospel without fear. Unfortunately, some have turned such preaching into a competition with Paul, something about which he is not pleased. To him, the preachers do not matter; the only thing that matters is that Christ be preached.

Paul wants the Christians in Philippi to be blameless, to be shining as lights amid a crooked and perverse generation. He wants them to hold fast to the light, Christ, so that he, Paul, will know that his work has not been in vain. Paul wants to know they hold firm in the Spirit, and are striving with one mind for the faith of the gospel. Just as Matthew is concerned about what it means to live as the church, so Paul is also deeply concerned that there be a true community of the Holy Spirit in the church at Philippi.

Sadly, as in the modern church, there appears to be internal dissention at Philippi. Paul addresses three groups of conflict: the case of dissention in the first group is not immediately clear but it would seem that this group reflected conceit and a lack of humility which Paul condemns at the beginning of what we have heard in this morning’s epistle. Indeed, it is against conceit and pushing one’s interest that Paul holds up Christ as an example of self-giving in the hymn about Christ.

Aside from this first group, there are two others: one group consists external opposition to the Philippian Christians that harasses Paul and the Christians in Philippi. And then there are those whom Paul unfortunately calls the dogs — those who are imperfect in more ways than one — the gentiles. (1)

Paul’s letter to the Philippians, then, is a mixture of autobiographical material, exhortations to the community in Philippi to get its act together and, lastly, wonderful declarations about the nature of God in Christ.

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The glorious and daunting hymn to Christ that lies in the middle of the second chapter of this letter describes the ultimate example of what it means to live for one another. Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, did not think it a prize to be equal with God, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, becoming in the likeness of humans, and being found in fashion as a human, humbled himself becoming obedient unto death. These words, so closely associated with Holy Week — we hear a shorter version of this epistle reading on Palm Sunday — summarise the extent to which Christ gave of himself for us. Though we are not expected to die on the cross, we are expected to practise a life of self-emptying.

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Self-emptying — there's a wonderful Greek word for it, kenosis. What does it mean for us to empty ourselves in the way that Paul asks us to do in this hymn of praise to Christ?

An Anglican hermit, Maggie Ross, whom I got to know when she stayed at the General Theological Seminary, offers some suggestions about what self-emptying can mean for us.

First, we respond to the humility of Christ. We allow Christ’s humility to transform and change us and indwell us. We allow the fire of the Holy Spirit to take from us the desire for status, control, and fixing ourselves up at the cost of our community.

Self-emptying means that we acknowledge our wounds, our brokenness and our sinfulness. Instead, we live in forgiveness, asking and giving it. We allow ourselves to be transformed, inside-out to God’s healing power of love and grace. We turn to God who made us, redeems us and makes us holy and we do so with a genuine spirit.

Self-emptying means we let go of our fear of death. We no longer run from our fear of our mortality, a fear that paralyses us and confuses us. Self-emptying means we give up our control over death because we cannot really control it. Instead, we live each day rightly and fully in God’s grace because we know that anyone of us could be hit by the proverbial bus tomorrow. We commit ourselves to live out this rightness and fullness in the time we are given by God. We have choices, take risks, make use of the gifts God has given us and acknowledge where we have gone wrong and ask God’s forgiveness. (2) Self-emptying, in sum, means that at every moment of our lives, we live them aware of God’s presence.

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How do we get the courage and ability to empty ourselves? How do we act not out of selfishness or conceit but in humility? How do we look to the interests of others? How do we have our minds in Christ Jesus?

There is one simple answer: through our baptism… through the vows that we or our sponsors made at the time of our baptism… through the reaffirmation of those vows which happens every time we have a baptism.

Each one of those vows points us toward a life of self-emptying:

continuing in the apostles’ teaching, the breaking of the bread and the prayers of the community;

seeking repentance and asking forgiveness of our community and of God;

proclamating by word and example the Good News of God in Christ;

seeking and serving Christ in all persons, our loving our neighbour as ourselves;

and striving for justice and peace among all people, and respecting the dignity of every human being.

Each one of us has embraced these vows at the moment of our baptism and carries them on our hearts throughout our lives. Self-emptying is not an easy life but the challenges of the journey are lessened some by the prayers and joint efforts of the community of faith who encourages us as we come together week-in, week-out. Finally, the challenges are lessened by Christ, our compass point, our north star who became one of us. For that we can gain encouragement and give thanks.

END NOTES
(1) Based on Raymond E. Brown, An Introduction to the New Testament, Anchor Bible Reference Library (New York, NY: Doubleday, 1997), 483-501.

(2) Based on Maggie Ross, Pillars of Flame: Power, Priesthood and Spiritual Maturity (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1988), Part II, Chapter 5, ‘Kenosis: Becoming Sacrifice’, 116-64.