Christ's Humility Pt2

This week we are looking at the Advent theme of humility. On Monday I wrote about Christ’s humble birth in a stable in Bethlehem. The book of Philippians tells us that Christ’s humility went far past the circumstances surrounding his birth to that of His willingness.

Philip. 2:5-8
Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:

Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death--
even death on a cross!

In order to bring salvation to us, Jesus was willing to make Himself “nothing” (for more on this see Neil’s blog entry “what is a nothing?”). He took on human form and humbled Himself to suffer in this fallen world and to die for us. It is amazing the lengths He went to. He put himself through hunger, thirst, temptation, pain and even death. That is the miracle of Christmas. That Jesus God Himself was willing to say yes to all of that to reconcile us to Him.

Compassion means to get your heart in line with someone else’s. To laugh when they laugh and weep when they weep. Henri Nouwen (who perhaps not coincidentally worked with individuals with special needs) in his book Compassion writes that compassion requires “voluntary displacement”. Compassion requires being with each other. Jesus did not just minister to us from heaven. He was willing to lower himself to be with us. Ministering from a place of elevation is often referred to as pity. Compassion is what Christ brought. When He encountered the masses who were “like sheep without a shepherd” He had “compassion” (Mark 6). He felt for them.

As the Christmas celebrations approach I challenge you to think about the great sacrifice Jesus undertook to bring compassion to us. Think of how far He was voluntarily displaced. What gap seems too large for you to humble yourself to cross? Is it poverty? Uncleanliness? Sickness? Fear? Culture? Loss of Comfort? Loss of Status?

Is it the gap of being right? Not wanting to humble ourselves to forgive?

Jesus was willing to “not grasp” equality with God to be with us. What displacements are we avoiding that could bring Him glory and show compassion to His children?

Mark Wallace