In Meditation 3 we saw that the Bible shows us how God the Father created the universe and everything in it through his Son Jesus Christ.
Furthermore, we are reading in John 3,16 about God’s unfathomable love for our world: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”
Philippians 2,5-7 shows us what happened to God’s Son since he was willing to be ‘given’ sacrificially to our world, in loving obedience to his Father.
First we are reminded about the divinity of Jesus Christ: “He was God”.
Then we read about his willingness to renounce his divine rights and power claims: “He did not demand and cling to his rights as God.”
Consequently, we see how he gave up his honour and high reputation: “He made himself nothing.”
Next we read that he arrived on our earth as a human being and, after 2,000 years, we are still trying to grasp the meaning of his deliberate transformation into the lowest of the low in first century society: “He took the humble position of a slave and appeared in human form.”
Someone wrote, “Christ came down from the height of power and splendour to the abyss of weakness and lowliness proper to a slave, and herein is revealed ... the inner nature of the Redeemer ... He did not consider Himself; He set before the eyes of those who believe in Him the example of forgetfulness of His own ego.”
It is in this humble and self-denying appearance as a human being that he calls himself ‘the Son of Man’: “For ... the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10,45)
No comments:
Post a Comment