When Every Knee Shall Bow

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, taking the form of a slave,
being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form, he humbled himself
and became obedient to the point of death – even death on a cross.
Therefore God also highly exalted him
and gave him the name that is above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.  (Philippians 2.5-11)

Creeds. People fought over them for hundreds of years. People these days cross their fingers during the parts they don't like. I've known ministers and worship leaders choose the ones they disagree with least.

And yet the need to try to nail down and agree what we believe - and what we don't - goes all the way back to the pages of the New Testament. The expression, "Jesus is Lord" - the short statement of faith that Paul used in 1 Corinthians and uses here in Philippians - was as political as a religious statement - because if Jesus is Lord, then what was Caesar?

Creeds were important - are important. Because what God is like, is important. Because who Jesus is - is important. And who Jesus is - was and is controversial.

Here is a human who walked among other human beings - just like them.  Sweated and got hungry and tired and had a full range of bodily functions like anyone else. And who bled and died like any other man, when nailed to a cross.

And yet he did astounding things. Who made astonishing claims about where his authority came from. Talked about being one with the Father. Here is a human who went beyond human abilities. Who could walk on water; multiply bread and fish; turn water into wine; raise the dead. And, the Church claimed, came back from his own bloody death.

So the Church, over four centuries, fought over how the human Jesus and the divine Christ fitted together. And came to the conclusion that the man Jesus was also the eternal Son of God - equal with the father. The unchanging, eternal God was also the child that grew and learned, the man who healed, preached and died. And And Paul also came up with this creed in one Philippians - or is quoting someone else - a statement of faith in the nature of Jesus.

Paul says that Jesus was in the form of God. So entitled to all the authority, all the worship, that God is entitled to.

And yet did not need to claim equality with God. Being equal with God was a given. So Jesus did not claim any rights - he was born, the son of a Jewish girl, the step-son of a man who worked with his hands. He himself worked with his hands until he was 30 - the age at which a man could serve as a priest - and then he started his ministry.

He was obedient. He was the wholeness of a human being in obeying God's will. And he did not rebel - even when he was put to death.

And as a result of that death - God gave the human, Jesus, all the honour that was due to his Sonship. Raised him from the dead. Raised his human body to heaven - where a human now sits at the right hand of the Majesty, fully aware of what it is to be like us, praying to his Father for us, sending his Spirit upon us.

And the day will keep when every knee will bow - either through love, or through the grudging recognition of who he is.

But Paul is clever. Because of what he slips in, in front of this glorious creed. The instruction that we should have the same mind as Jesus. Not clinging to our own positions - if Jesus did not cling to his. Not worrying about our own glory - because who gave up more of that than Jesus? Not following our own judgement of right and wrong - if Jesus was totally obedient to the Father.

This does not mean submitting to what is wrong. Does not mean being doormats. I've been following the controversy in the States over sportspeople - mainly black - kneeling during the playing of the National Anthem as a protest against the discrimination that is still so prevalent there. Many of them will be Christians. And their faith will be part of what has brought them - remembering they're all pretty rich - to kneel in solidarity with so many others. And so they will, in part, be bowing the  knee to Jesus. And there's a man - a privileged white man - telling them they should stand up - because he thinks respecting the US anthem, or the flag, is more important than their consciences. But if you're bowing the knee to respect the least of Jesus's brothers and sisters - you're bowing the knee to Jesus.

It means that we are being made in Jesus's image. By accepting his position as a servant, we are following him. By not demanding a higher place, we are doing what he did. By remembering the least of our brothers and sisters - we are counting them as Jesus.

And there's an implicit promise in that passage. Because if our mind is like that of Jesus, and our attitude means we follow him - we will be among those who will bow our knee joyfully when we see him in Glory. And if we're brought low with him, we will be raised with him.