ニューイングランドの母校からアドベントの便り、その26
2016 Gordon-Conwell
Advent Devotional | Day 27 | The Obedience of There and Back Again
Philippians 2:5-11
Why did Jesus come? This is no small question, and indeed there is no simple answer. Love. Grace. Mercy. To save people from their sins. To bring forgiveness. To usher in the kingdom of God. Each of these is correct, and these are but a few. Today, let us think about Christmas, and the coming of Jesus, from the standpoint of what Paul writes in Philippians 2:5-11. In this early Christian hymn, Paul talks about Christ’s coming as a great act of obedience.
This magnificent passage, truly one of Paul’s finest hours, offers a précis of Christ’s first coming. And the through-line is his obedience. First, Christ, fully divine, does not seek to gain advantage from this, but instead (or maybe because of it) humbles himself in obedience to God. He surrenders to the Father’s great plan to bring salvation. He takes on flesh, becoming fully human. He does not simply seem like a man, he becomes a man. Unlike the great myths and legends of the ancient world, he does not present as some great hero or unstoppable general. He is born in an occupied territory, as the son of a tradesman. And his life is not marked by the conquest of land, like Alexander the Great. It is marked by homelessness, rejection, betrayal, and ultimately–the ignominy of the cross.
All because of obedience. God the Son obeyed God the Father. His great journey to the cross does not end there, for Jesus is ultimately exalted. He is back again at the right hand of God. Whereas both Jesus and Alexander the Great died around thirty years of age, only one remained dead, only one is truly Lord of all.
Christ is the exalted “Obedient One.” This Christmas, let us renew ourselves to being obedient, to walk the steps of the great plan of God. Let it be said of us, Christ’s church, that we keep Christmas every day, in our obedience.
Dr. Mark Jennings
Adjunct Professor of New Testament
