Jesus’ humility
Nm 21:4b-9; Ps 78:1bc-2, 34-35, 36-37, 38; Phil 2:6-11; Jn 3:13-17
Imagine you were given the task of composing a hymn that summarized the heart of Jesus’ life and mission in five verses or less. What would you choose to include or to leave out? Our second reading this week contains what many Scripture scholars believe to be one of the earliest Christian hymns, which Paul appropriated and inserted into the body of his letter (Phil 2:6-11).
As one might expect, the hymn details the fact that Jesus was in the form of both God and man, and that he died on a cross. Furthermore, God the Father has glorified Jesus, and all heaven and earth professes that “Jesus Christ is Lord” (Phil 2:11).
What is surprising is that nowhere in this hymn is there any mention of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. I’m not suggesting that the early Christians didn’t know about the resurrection or doubted that it had happened. But we should take note that from the earliest times, the church placed great emphasis on a quality of Jesus that perhaps is not so much emphasized these days: his extraordinary humility.
The hymn highlights his humility in specific ways. Although he was truly God, Jesus did not choose to exploit (“grasp at”) that power. He did not have to become human, he chose to do it as an act of love. And in choosing to become human, he was necessarily also choosing to die.
Furthermore, by accepting authentic humanity, he was also accepting the uncertainties and fluidity of human interactions, which would ultimately lead to his being rejected and publicly executed. His humbly “becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross” (Phil 2:8), is the reason that God the Father has exalted him.
This should not be seen as some kind of reward for having to endure so much suffering, but rather as an affirmation that because of Jesus’ humility we are able to be with the Father, which has always been the Father’s desire (see, for example, Eph 1:3-6).
Because of Jesus’ humility, we can relate intimately to a God who knows our sufferings and feelings of isolation. We need never feel aloof from a God who cannot know our experience of life. It was this humility, and the incredible gift it brought, that so impressed the early Christians.
By offering us this reading on the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, the church is inviting us to view the cross (both Jesus’ cross and our own) not simply as an instrument of suffering, but also as a means to humility and self-sacrificial love. In this context, we should understand our “cross” as any situation, person or thing that limits our freedom in a way that feels confining or unfair. To be sure, sometimes such limits are for our own good, but that doesn’t mean we always experience them in that way.
A primary lie that the unholy spirit always wants to implant in our hearts is that we are defined by our limitations; that we are only as good as our ability to overcome what holds us back from our ambitions and goals. The ultimate limitation that every human being succumbs to is his or her mortality. Even Jesus is not spared this limitation — and yet, that limitation does not define who he is, his resurrection transcends any temptation to limit his identity to just another man who failed in his public ambitions and died as a criminal.
The Exaltation of the Cross is really an exaltation of what is possible for us. Because of Jesus’ Holy Spirit, which allows us to share in his own resurrected life, we too are not defined by our limitations. For us, as for Jesus, the cross is not a closed gate but a threshold, if we can let it be an invitation to the humility that comes with sacrificial love. This type of love can open us up to receive from others and to live our lives as a gift in return.
In the face of your greatest suffering, ask yourself: Where is my opportunity to love for the sake of others? That is how we love from the cross, and feel the solace of love in return.