On Being Christ-Like

Main Text: Philippians 2: 1-13

Church o the !ol" Trinit"# $epte%&er 2'# 2(1)
B" *e+ ,r -rancesca .u//olese# Theologian in *esi0ence
Introduction:
A few days ago I told my new 7 year old friend, Olivia, that I would be
preaching this morning, and I would likely spend the weekend working on
the sermon. hat!s that"# she asked" hat!s what"# I replied, with a look
of surprise on my face$ I mean, how could this young girl not know what a
sermon is" Or was she %ust trying to get deeper into the meaning of it""" &ou
can tell I don!t hang around young people much$
I don!t know what a sermon is.# 'he clari(ed with a simple, genuinely
in)uisitive tone. I have never seen one.# ow$ I thought: what a great
opportunity to clarify that for myself, as I try to e*plain it to her$ And what
good timing, before I actually write and preach one$$$$
+oing my very best to ,O- get convoluted and %umbled out, and to give her
a simple answer to match her simple )uestion, I said something like this: it is
a little speech you make, in front of people, and you say things about them
and things about .od. And you try to say something special for them,
something that will always make them feel loved, but sometimes something
that will remind them that they are not being as kind and loving to others as
they should be. hat will you tell them this time"# she in)uired further. I
think I am going to tell them how .od wants us to be, so that we can be
more loving like he is.#
I looked at the lectionary readings for today with that intention in mind, and
went searching for the message that may help us get a better grasp of what
it means to be a /hristian or to follow /hrist, in our time and age.
0
-oday we have three very rich te*ts, which all could help us engage the
)uest.
e have the te*t of 12ekiel for e*ample, which was written in the conte*t of
3abylonian captivity, when the Israelites e*perienced a paraly2ing sense of
bondage to their past. -he te*t teaches us about taking responsibility for our
own present lives, regardless of what inheritance 4or baggage$5 we might
have received. ith clarity and boldness, the prophet announces that we
can break through the bonds of family and national transmission to own up
to our own responsibility, and rediscover our freedom as children of .od. ,o
more blame game, argues the prophet. .et yourself a new heart and a new
spirit. -urn around and you shall live.#
e also have some rich insights in the .ospel of 6atthew, where 7esus
e*plains how to 31 in accordance with .od!s will. 8sing a parado*ical story,
about saying something and doing something else, 7esus teaches us that
.od values and rewards the change of heart more than the action itself9 that
.od values our faith more than our logic, our being in Him more than our
beliefs about :im. ;rostitutes and ta* collectors have a genuine access to
.od!s <ingdom because in their encounter with 7esus, they have become
accepted and acceptable, and an integral part of .od!s redemptive plan.
-heir new identity as children of .od deserves them the kingdom = not
necessarily their %ob description or what they did in order to survive their
socio>economic conditions.
3ut of all the readings for this morning, the one I found most inspiring and
challenging about /hristian living is the te*t of ;hilippians. It is on this te*t
that I will focus my re?ections.
-he beautiful hymn of ;hilippians tells the odd story of a divine (gure that
descends into humanity and makes its divinity vulnerable to the point of
death.
@
Aike Isaiah, 12ekiel and the people of Israel, when ;aul )uoted the hymn, he
was subdued by pain, by the e*perience of slavery. Only someone who had
faced the violence and brutality of e*istence could (nd comfort and hope in
this hymn. &et, he does not appeal to the power of the .reek semi>gods, nor
to the military victories of :ercules. Instead, he appeals to the (gure of a
divinity that has abandoned all the visible signs of the divine to embody all
forms of human (nitude and brokenness. And from that very vulnerable
space, he declares that we are called and able to do the same:
3e of the same mind of /hrist# is the imperative of the /hristian life
according to this te*t. -hat to 31 thinking like he did, to 31 operating out of
his logic, to 31 fully human like he sought to be, is what essentially leads us
to /hrist>likeness. 31I,. like /hrist precedes doing the right thing or having
the right attitude to things. -his is the only base out of which we can AOB1
with the same love of /hrist.
+o nothing for sel(sh reasons and regard others better than yourself# is
another crucial imperative of the /hristian life according to this te*t. It calls
for a willingness to become more generous, %ust, and less self>serving, and
for the willingness to be humble in our interpersonal relationships. :86IAI-&
is an important hallmark of /hristian living. ,ot to be confused with
humbleness, or with self>destructive and masochistic behaviors, true
/hristian humility is 4according to church historian C. 3ondi5: living out of
the conviction that all human beings are beloved creatures of .od D and
that no woman, man, or child loves or does any good without the help of
.od#.
+o not e*ploit or misuse your privilege of being made imago dei, of carrying
within you the image of .od and 31 empty# is another essential ingredient
for /hrist>likeness, for ;aul. 7ust as 7esus did not think of his divine origin as
a privilege to be used to escape his fate, so we too should not see our /hrist>
E
likeness as a privilege only. Instead, we are taught to hold on to our full
human form, like 7esus did, and to be bold enough to stand that form even
unto death. :i did nothing to deserve death. 8n%ust, undeserved, cruel and
unnecessary: indeed, a total travesty of a condemnation$ And yet, that is
what life sometimes will thrust upon us: something completely unreasonable
and non>sensical, which however tests the core of our identity and integrity.
3ecause 7esus did it, we know we are called to do it as well. 3e fully human,
like your .od became on your behalf, and accept the irrational lot that will
be cast upon you, by not giving up your form of human goodness and by
holding on to what is most beautiful and good about your human nature.
.lory, recognition, proclamation of 7esus as the savior ?ow from .od to
7esus, and from us to .od, not only because of what .od +I+ for us, but
because of who .od 31/A61 for us in /hrist. 'ubtle but profound nuance>
not to be missed, my friends$
&et, the )uestion remain for us: what does the e*ample of 7esus in the
;hilippian hymn oFer us concretely, in the here and now, to our post>modern
estern lives""" hat relevance does this particular image of a vulnerable
/hrist have for each of us as individuals and as a community of faith"""
Aet me point to some e*amples:
-here are relationships that break our hearts and relationships where we (nd
ourselves acting more like beasts than human beings. And since we don!t
know how to handle hard feelings like longing, anger, re%ection, and fear we
go around hurting others, blaming them for what we don!t have, e*pecting
others to make it right by us, si22ling in wishes of revenge. -ake an honest
look into your family, work, and primary relationships, in the past and in the
present, and see for yourself whether you may have missed the opportunity
to be /hrist>like.
G
-o accept that your heart is broken, e*posed, in pain as a result of a ma%or
breakdown in your life, and yet somehow believe that relationship is still
possible, that community is still possible, that peace is still possible = this is
to be /hrist>like for the writer of ;hilippians. 'ometimes it happens that
O,A& when we feel deeply abandoned, broken and vulnerable, we get to
truly understand the vulnerability of .od in /hrist, which parado*ically
reveals the -C81 strength and ;O1C of .od.
Out there, there is a world that is on the verge of collapse at the hands of
unprecedented e*pressions of greed, violence and brutality. As :umans we
seem to be devolving towards more beastly behavior and less towards fuller
humanity. -o be )uite honest, most days, I (nd it hard to reconcile the call to
be vulnerable and surrendered, in the face of what is happening in the
6iddle 1ast, in /entral Africa, in CussiaH/rimea as well as in our own country
as it relates to the se*ual e*ploitation of children. Ilooded on the news with
images of violence and war, I truly struggle to believe that humility,
emptiness and vulnerability are the best ways to engage the world and
transform it.
And yet, something about the ord of .od for us today makes this
uncomfortably clear: the way of /hrist is the way of the /ross, and the way
of the /ross is a call to ultimate surrender of what we think is wise, in order
to embrace what appears foolish. -o maintain integrity and wholeness, to
stand fast in the face of impossibility, is the /hristian way of re?ecting the
image of god. .od can be fearful and powerful and even crumble in the face
of re%ection, brutality and cruelty. &et :1 remains whole even when evidence
is breaking apart. And that is the .ood and .reat ,1' for us this morning:
by his :OA& spirit and ;ower, .od calls and enables us to be fully whole and
/hrist>like, even we don!t have the courage and the belief to be that we can.
:e does it for our sake, and also or the sake o others. In /hrist, .od is
broken through and through, so that others may be saved. 'o we also are
J
enabled to become more than we are, and love with greater AOB1 than we
thought we could, or the sake o others1
-o be human is to be perfect and to be capable of .odly, divine love. -his is
the premise on which .od created us: to love fully and to love
unconditionally. &ou can grow into love by choosing in every moment to
believe that Aove is possible. 7esus (gured it out in the moment, within
history, he became what he intended to be. And we are given the power to
do the same, especially when we are facing agony, adversity and when
everything seems to be going wrong in life.
In tangible terms, this means that we are issued an important invitation to
look around constantly, for opportunities to be /hrist>like and to miss ,O,1$
3oth the world we inhabit daily and the world that ?ows on our televisions
oFers up countless opportunities to 31 of the 6ind of /hrist, to 16;-&
ourselves of our own fullness, so that /hrist can (ll us with his9 to 31 self>
less and surrender our power even in the face of death, so that the true
power of .od can be e*alted.
6y brothers and sisters, this is the higher and fuller life to which we are
called. -his is the /hrist>like thing to be and to do = for the sake of others,
with the help of .od, in the ful(llment of our /hristian calling. Aet us be bold
and brave, and day by day, moment by moment, grow into the likeness of
/hrist by choosing love, by being love, by acting out of Aove. Amen
K