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   Written by on December 18, 2015 at 11:52 am

 You are familiar with Luke’s Christmas story. And Matthew’s.  The details are etched on our holiday memories. The shepherds watching their flocks by night, the Coming of the Magi, Mary’s song, and Joseph’s warning dream.

logo-crotts-stephenHowever, most of us neglect Paul’s hymn of Christmas in Philippians 2. There the take-home implications of Jesus’ incarnation are spelled out in startling clarity. Notice this passage is in the form of a hymn, a poem. And there is a downward progression.

The first portion speaks of Christ as equal to God, enjoying all the glory and honor of His Trinitarian being. Yet He did not grasp it; He rather let it go. He actually “emptied” Himself, became a man, a servant, and finally a sacrifice on the cross as a payment for our sin.

This is the mystery of Christmas, the divine humility of incarnation. But finish the hymn. Sing every stanza!

In the second portion of the hymn there is an upward movement of Christ. From servanthood to crucifixion to death to the grave, Jesus is raised up by God the Father, exalted, given the throne of the universe with the name above all names. And He is served by all.

Elsewhere Paul sums it all up succinctly.  “Though he was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor,” that we might know the riches of God. 2 Corinthians 8:9.

One may see Jesus flesh this out in John 13. At the Last Supper there was no servant to wash the group’s dirty feet. As they sat on cushions around a low table, their feet were stuck to the side right in their friends’ faces. Their sandled feet were muddy, crusted with sweat and manure. Very unappetizing!

“Where is the servant?” they pondered.

“Somebody ought to do something!” another mused.

“I’ll wash Jesus’ feet. But I’m not doing Peter’s,” Thomas thought.

It was all a test. As Jesus had carefully arranged to use the upper room, so He also arranged for the servant foot washer to have the night off.  He watched them all do nothing. Not a one of them saw the towel and basin of water as an opportunity to serve, to humble themselves. All they saw was the inconvenience, a lack of good service before a meal.

Jesus must have looked about the room rather sadly. “They don’t get it,” Christ quietly lamented. And that’s when Jesus sang this hymn by stripping off His robe, kneeling before the twelve, and doing the commonest of tasks.

Christmas. Down. Down. Down. This was Jesus’ road to Bethlehem. And it is ours to own in our own day.

The Reverend Stephen Crotts is pastor of Village Presbyterian Church in Charlotte Court House, VA.  He may be reached at carolinastudycenter@msn.com.

About Stephen Crotts

The Reverend Stephen Crotts is pastor of Village Presbyterian Church in Charlotte Court House, VA. He is also the director of the Carolina Study Center, Inc., a campus ministry, located in Chapel Hill, NC. Pastor Crotts may be reached at carolinastudycenter@msn.com.

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