Philippians
2:5-8 (ESV)
5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,
6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,
7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,
6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,
7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
The phrase
"he emptied himself" has a great deal of significance.
Jesus did
not step down from the throne and merely put on human flesh. That would
have been amazing in its own way. Instead, he stepped away from the Deity
that was his...equality with God...and he emptied himself - divesting himself
of all that was his as a right in order to take on our human form in which he
would eventually die for us.
He emptied
himself for us. In that "Emptying" he became a servant...humbling...obedient...even as it led to His death for us.
Bernard of
Clairvaux (1090 – 1153) was born of noble parentage. His mother had a great
deal of influence upon his life and when she died, he decided to leave the
noble life he lived behind and become a monk.
He became a Cistercian monk at the age of 22 and took with him thirty
young men, including his brothers and uncles, to an Abbey in France. Three
years later he founded a new monastery at Clairvaux. This abbey became a center
of the Cistercian order and a source of spiritual renewal throughout
Europe. They focused on a shared life of
work, worship, prayer, along with the disciplines of the Spirit.
Bernard is
most notable for his writings that emphasize God’s great love, and what it
means to love God in return. Consider
this short article:
Emptied for Our Sake, by Bernard of Clairvaux
Christ’s self-emptying was neither a
simple gesture nor a limited one. He emptied himself even to the assuming of
human nature, even to accepting death, death on a cross (Philippians
2:7).
Who is there that can adequately
gauge the greatness of the humility, gentleness, and self-surrender, revealed
by the Lord of majesty in assuming human nature, in accepting the punishment of
death, the shame of the cross?
But somebody will say: "Surely
the Creator could have restored his original plan without all that
hardship?" Yes, he could, but he chose the way of personal suffering so
that man would never again have to reason to display that worst and most
hateful of all vices, ingratitude.
Even if God made you out of nothing,
you have not been redeemed out of nothing. In six days he created all things,
and among them, you. On the other hand, for a period of thirty whole years he
worked your salvation in the midst of the earth.
What he endured in those labors! To
his bodily needs and the abuses from his enemies did he not add the mightier
burden of the humiliation of the cross, and crown it all with the horror of his
death? And this was indeed necessary. Man and beast you save, 0 Lord (Psalm
36:6). How you have multiplied your mercy, 0 God!
We live in a
very rights oriented culture. Let’s take
some time this weekend to genuinely serve the interests of another – our spouse,
our parents, neighbor, friends – and thereby “humble” ourselves for the sake of
Christ.
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