…rather, [Jesus] made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross! (Philippians 2:7-8)   It strikes me that this hymn that Paul quotes doesn't really say that Jesus humbled himself for us.  It just says that Jesus humbled himself.  If his humbling was before or for anyone: it was for God the Father, the only other actor mentioned in this set of verses.  Jesus responded to the Father by giving up everything and making himself nothing. There are a few downward steps that Jesus takes here in these first verses of the hymn.  In yesterday's verse, Jesus lets go of his divine right to use his divine status and power.  This is, as Pastor Michael noted yesterday, the very opposite move to that of Adam and Eve who grasped to achieve that status and power ("you'll be like God!" the serpent said).  Having let go of his rights to exercise the role, status, and power of God, Jesus instead turns in humility and makes himself nothing—a servant—a human—and eventually a crucified, humiliated, dead human.  He is born into this world a human.  All of a sudden the face of God that no one can see and live becomes visible to all in the form of new, fragile, helpless human life.  Jesus lives and teaches, every day suffering among a suffering people as he bears their burdens and has compassion on their needs.  And then Jesus submits himself to death on a cross: he could have called a legion of angels to spare him from this fate, he could have crushed the Romans, he could have come down from the cross.  But he didn't do that.  He did not use the divine power and status that was his to use.  He gave it up.  He became nothing and humbled himself to death—became obedient even to this death on a cross. It strikes me that this action resonates in harmony with some other strings we've been plucking over these past months.  Like in Deuteronomy where the first and second commandment, together with the Shema say the same thing: submit yourself firstly, lovingly, and exclusively to God.  Or in the Psalms where repeatedly, the action of the Psalmist is to submit themselves and their situation fully to God—seeking no recourse of their own.  It is God who will have to vindicate their cause.  God whose justice, power, and praise will be shown and known.  Jesus does the same.  What might it mean for you to follow Jesus in this way of the cross in your relationships with one another?  What might it mean to make yourself nothing, to humble yourself, to make yourself a servant?  That is, to let go of all of your ability to control a situation, all of your roles and titles, all of your resources and assets, all of your relational capital in friends, family, and networks of acquaintances?   This is not the sort of humility that sheepishly denies having abilities, skills, relationships, or power that one does, in fact, have.  This is the sort of humility that looks with a very clear and calculating eye at exactly what rights, skills, relationships, and privileges one has and resolutely chooses not to use them for one's own self—perhaps even chooses to give them up altogether.  It is someone who chooses not to seek another term.  Who chooses not to step in and unduly influence an important decision being made.  Who chooses not to purchase the expected property or possessions that one's social or economic peers might have.  Who chooses not to exact retribution from one who it is their right to get it from.  It is a person who chooses to forgive. We face variations on any of these examples starting in grade school on, and given that, perhaps they sound much less radical than one might have expected from the lead up.  Yes, there are times that the call is to give up everything one has.  More often though I think, the invitation is to give these things up slowly across a lifetime in the seemingly smaller, daily decisions of life.  So: how might you take one step in this humble direction of Christ, today?  

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