"In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness ..." (Phil.2:5-6).
Growing up my mom was always fighting me about my messy room. No matter how hard I tried (OK ... I really didn't try very hard) my room always seemed a mess. I guess it was a metaphor for life. Life is messy.
We are entering the holiest week of the year for the Christian church. For six days, from Palm Sunday to Good Friday, we are reliving the journey from "Hosanna, to the King of David!" and "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" to "Crucify him!" and "Cursed is the one who hangs on a tree." It's not a pretty journey. It's a painful journey because it reminds us of who we are and what (at our most selfish moment) we really are capable of doing. Saturday is spent in shocked silence. Jesus is in the tomb. We can't believe that everything could change so dramatically in the span of seven days. How did we get here? How did life get so messy? What is it about us that can't seem to get things right? If it's true, as Merold Westphal claims, that self-suspicion is the "hermeneutics of Lent," then this is the perfect time of year to confront the messiness of life.
The New Testament Scripture text for this Sunday is the Christological hymn from Paul's letter to the Philippians. In beautiful poetic style the hymn describes the descent of Christ into our world. It is a descent that is comprehensive, ending with death of a cross. In some small way, it is a descent that reflects our Holy Week journey -- From the high of Palm Sunday to the low of Good Friday. Jesus travels from the highest place, perfect and equal communion with the Father, to the lowest place, fleshly death on a cross. It is a hymn that reflects the way Jesus embraced the messiness of being human and loving humans.
I'm not sure what part of your messy life you're dealing with right now, but Holy Week teaches us that we are not the first human beings to deal with it, and we won't be the last. It teaches us that Jesus loved us enough to enter into our messiness, and died to overcome it. Jesus' descent into our world teaches us what true love does. It gets down into the messy parts of life, and speaks to us there. Maybe that's what I need most when my life is a mess. I don't always trust myself to get it right, and I don't trust you for the same reasons -- you are human just as I am. I don't need someone to clean up my mess, as much as someone to come along side me and live with me for awhile -- to speak words of love and strength in the midst of the messiness.
That's what Jesus did. He entered the messiness that is "being human." And he lived in it all the way to the end. This week I want to remember that -- while I was still "messy," Christ died for me.
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