"The Humility of Glory" Palm Sunday Sunday of the Passion April 17, 2011 Philippians 2:5-11
The Paradox of Glory and Humility The glory of glory is humility. But the humility of glory is different than the glory of humility. Each is a paradox in its own right. Humility is glorious in a paradoxical way. It doesn’t appear so. There is a paradoxical gloriousness to humility. We ironically praise those who are humble. The Bible, and for that matter, secular wisdom, lifts up humility as a virtue. That’s how it’s true, even while paradoxical, that humility is glorious. It’s also true that the greatest glory is humility, even though that doesn’t appear to be so either. True glory is actually not in supreme magnificence. It’s in extending the glory to others. And that means humility. As Christians if we are going to point to ultimate glory we point to God. He is all glorious. He alone is worthy of all glory. He is the essence of glory. And because He’s God, if He had never created the universe, and especially human beings, He still would be all glorious. He is the ultimate in regard to glory. But what is it, really, that makes God all glorious? Just being, as we would say, worthy of all glory? What we know of God is from His revealing Himself to us. He hasn’t revealed Himself to us primarily as the God of all glory but by making known to us that He is love. His glory is not in its gloriousness but in His love. This is humility. The opposite of love we might think of as hate. But the opposite of love is being absorbed in yourself. Love is extending beyond yourself. This is God. He doesn’t need anybody or anything but He loves us. He extends His grace and His glory to us. True Glory Is Known in God The Scriptures are replete with designations of God has worthy of glory and honor and praise. Even non-Christians have an understanding that whatever god there may be, he or it is glorious. That’s kind of the point of deity, someone or something that is above us and beyond us. The people praise and honor their god. For us Christians we worship and give glory to the Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. People can talk about other gods, or even no gods, but the Scriptures make it clear that true glory is known only in the true God, the Triune God. You can look in the world for examples of glory but they will only be pale comparisons of the ultimate glory that only God has. We may bask in our glory of accomplishing a task, or starting a business, or getting a promotion, or receiving a compliment, or behaving in a mature way. We like glory, even if we try to pass it off as something we’d rather not talk about. Some people are consumed with it. Others feel slighted that they aren’t given any of it. If all of us would get off of ourselves any glory due us we would see that it comes without our having to seek it or to bask in it. That’s not to say we’re not allowed to feel good in our accomplishments or receiving compliments. But glory belongs to God. Any that we have is purely by God’s grace. True Humility Is Known in God As true glory is known in God, so also true humility is known in God. We can know God only from what He has revealed to us. So many of our attempts to understand God are done by analogy. We have to use things we readily understand to give us a sense of the things of God that we cannot understand. A king that sits on his throne may very well be a wicked ruler. He has glory, to be sure. He has authority and power and all the trappings of wealth and fame. But does he have true glory? The world may say yes. But the Christian, and even the secular person who understands wisdom, would say no. All this king’s glory revolves around himself. So while even a wicked ruler is an example of glory, it is to the faithful ruler we look to for true glory. This is the ruler who has, and may even enjoys, all the trappings of being a ruler—the wealth, the fame, the authority, the power. But he exercises his office as king, and makes use of his authority and power and fame and wealth, for the good of the land. The people of the land are the ones he has a responsibility to. In this we see humility. He doesn’t have to step off his throne and become one of the common subjects in order to humble himself. What he is called to do as a ruler is to humble himself in terms of acting in a way that is best for the people of the land rather than only what satisfies his own desires. This is a picture of humility being known in God. While a human ruler will not always act in humility God does. Though He has more glory in His pinky than all the powers and kingdoms in history, His desire and action are always in what is best for us, the people He created. In the world we can get glimpses of what true humility is but only in God can we see what true humility is. God’s Glory Is Known in Christ But the purpose of knowing that true glory is known in God isn’t simply knowing it. It’s knowing what it means for us. True glory is known in God, but even more important, God’s glory is known in Christ. The Epistle reading says that God the Father has highly exalted Him and has given Him the name that is above every name and that at that name every knee should bow. If it’s true that true glory is known in God it’s even more true that true glory is known in Christ. That’s how God reveals His glory to us. On Palm Sunday the people gave glory to Christ. That’s completely right, of course. But the irony is that they didn’t fully realize why it was right. It was right not just because He was God. It’s that He was entering into the city in order to go to the cross. They were giving Him glory because they thought He was glorious on the order of a king. Power would be following Him. Authority. Great acts. Perhaps the wealth and the fame too. He of course already possessed and did all of those things, He was the Lord of the Universe. He already had all power. He brought the whole universe into being with it, for example. But this isn’t completely how God’s glory is made known in this man who was entering Jerusalem on a donkey. The parade was in full swing. The coats and the palm branches were being strewn before Him. But He was, after all, riding in on a donkey. Humbly, as Zechariah had prophesied it. The Pharisees even misread what was going on. They were getting more and more nervous. The whole world has gone after Him, they observed. But only six days later the whole world would reject Him, leaving Him hanging on a cross to bear the sin of the world. God’s Humility Is Known in Christ And this is how we really see what God’s glory is. It is humility. It is, in the way we usually talk about God, love. God’s glory is in extending His love toward the people He created. But not even so much extending it toward them, as in actually and simply loving them. This is done in humility. That’s why the Epistle says that “though He was in the form of God, [He] did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” God’s humility is known in Christ. It is made known in Christ. This is nothing other than saying that His love is made known in His only-begotten Son. To know God is to look to Christ. To know the glory of God is to look at the humility of God in Christ. There is no glory from God apart from the glory of God in Christ. Which is nothing other than to say the humility of God in Christ. The Humility of Glory Even saying that God’s glory is made known in Christ and His humility is made known in Christ can leave us with it simply as an observation. But how awesome is it if we see it for the glory it really is? Why does God exhibit His glory in humility? It is for you. It is for me. It is for everyone. The greatest glory is in Christ hanging on a cross for the sin of the world. The greatest glory is God in the flesh riding into Jerusalem toward that cross willingly, humbly. The greatest glory is in Christ coming in the flesh in bread and wine. God could have instituted some spectacular way of coming to us where we would take one look at it and marvel in its glory. Rather, how awesome is it that He makes known His glory in humility, in bread and wine? Jesus rode into town in the flesh. He suffered on the cross in the flesh. He comes today in the flesh, giving His body and blood in a glorious Meal. The humility of it is its glory. The glory of it is its humility, God loving us in His Son. And how awesome is it that what this means for you and me is that God’s glory is made known through and me? When we go about our daily lives we are the glorious earthen vessels who are Christ to others. Serving them, helping them, sharing with them, crying with them, laughing with them, being there for them, loving them as God in Christ has loved us. This is the “have this mind among yourselves” of the Epistle that Paul says was in Christ Jesus. It is the being united with Christ and extending the love of Christ to others. But not just extending it, actually loving them. That’s what God does. That’s His glory. That’s the glory of His humbly loving us and loving others through us. The other day when I was preparing for Confirmation Class I was typing in a question. Some of the questions I have for them are fill in the blank and I put in a floating box for my copy that has the answer and their copy is of course blank. I take several from the previous lesson and then just put the new questions and answers into the old one. So a box will have the answer from the old question and I just highlight the answer and type in the new one. That way I don’t have to make a new box for every new question. One question was, What was the condition the lamb had to be in for the Passover? The answer was, Without blemish. Blemish was the word they were supposed to write in the blank. The box that was ready to be used had the word God in it. So I double-clicked on the word God and put in its place the word blemish. And that is your sermon. This is what has occurred. God, specifically, Christ the Lamb of God, who is without blemish, has been replaced by the blemish of our sin so that we may stand before God without blemish, without sin. This is the glory of God. Humbling Himself to place the blemish in the place where He was. The glory of God is the humility of Christ. Which means, the glory of God is to love us in His only-begotten Son. That’s how you know He loves you, He gave His Son and gives you His Son in His Son’s Holy Meal, in body and soul, now and forever. Amen. SDG -- Pastor Paul L. Willweber Prince of Peace Lutheran Church [LCMS] 6801 Easton Ct., San Diego, California 92120 619.583.1436 princeofpeacesd.net three-taverns.net It is the spirit and genius of Lutheranism to be liberal in everything except where the marks of the Church are concerned. [Henry Hamann, On Being a Christian] ___________________________________________________________________ 'CAT 41 Sermons & Devotions' consists of works that are, unless otherwise noted, the copyrighted property of the various authors; posting of such gives members of this list implied consent for redistribution _with_attribution_ unless otherwise specified by the author (as long as no charge is made for the work and it is not made part of a compilation), as well as for quoting or use in a congregational setting _with_or_without_attribution_. Note: This list's default reply is to the *poster*, NOT the list. Do *not* reply to the list with your comments, but to the poster. Subscribe? 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