The Mind of Christ :: Philippians 2:5-11
The next day, the large crowd that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming into Jerusalem, took the branches of palms and went out to meet him and began crying out: Hosanna! Blessed is the one coming in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel (Jn 12:12-13).
No story has ever had a bigger buildup to a greater letdown than this one. The Jews were all of the same mind: They had been looking forward to this day for more than a millennia. And here he came! Jesus of Nazareth in Galilee (Mi 5:2)! The prophet like Moses (Dt 18:15)! The son of David (2 Sm 7:12)! Our Messiah (Is 61:1) ... Here he came, riding into Jerusalem on a donkey (Zec 9:9), fulfilling the scriptures. Zechariah, Micah, Isaiah, Deuteronomy, Samuel, the Psalms. This is the day the Lord has made! Let us rejoice and be glad in it (Ps 118:24). ... These things are written so that you will believe Jesus is the Christ, the son of the Living God and that by believing you will have life in his name (Jn 20:31).
They were all of the same mind, singing and shouting: Hosanna! Hosanna, in the highest! Hosanna, to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the king of Israel (Ps 118:25-26; Jn 12:13)!
And as is only fitting of a king, they grabbed anything they could lay their hands on ... palm branches, cloaks off their own backs ... and they threw them on his path ... a sort of red carpet rollout for their king. They waved them in the air. They pleaded for the Lord to save us now. Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.
No story has ever had a bigger buildup to a greater letdown than this one.
5. Because they all had this in mind: Something amazing is about to happen today!
But it didn’t happen ... at least not in the eyes of the people.
They didn’t understand these things at first (Jn 12:15). There were no great convocations that followed ... no rallies, no revolution, no freedom. The Romans were still in control. The people were still being mistreated, and persecuted, and called out for their empty prayers and shallow repentance. The letdown was just beginning.
Of course ... today ... We know why. This isn’t the day the Lord had made for the son of David to rule ... This is the day he came to die.
And here you thought Palm Sunday was a celebration!
That’s what today is a reminder of: that God was fulfilling his promise to provide the sacrifice for the sins of the people on the Day of Atonement. His goal was not a crown but a cross. Jesus didn’t go to Jerusalem to bring the peace the people were seeking. He went to die. He rode into Jerusalem to silence his divine nature ... his royal status as king of the universe ... to give blood, sweat blood, and shed blood ... for you.
This was the mind of Christ.
4. And all of the songs, all of the shouting, all of the hosannas ... the palms, and the psalms ... would all give way to the single-minded cry of the mob: Crucify him!
Too often we try to make this day about ourselves. We are tired of Lent. The Sixth Sunday in Lent, which we also call the Sunday of the Passion, is a reminder of what we all want to forget: that sin has a price. This day that the Lord has made is a day of pain and suffering.
That’s what Jesus had in mind as he rode into town, knowing the fate that awaited him: Betrayal, arrest, mockings, beatings, scourging, crucifixion, and finally, the most despised death of all: death on a tree ... for everyone who is hanged on a tree is cursed by God (Dt 22:22-23). The mind of Christ had a real mission, a real passion, a real humility ... He would give ... not only until it hurt ... but to the point of death.
So brothers and sisters in Christ, as we begin Holy Week, as we hear again our reading from Philippians, remember:
HAVE THIS MIND AMONG YOU (v 5).
3. The mind of Christ had a single purpose: to empty himself in the service to all.
Christ Jesus, who, [even though he was God], didn’t regard equality with God [as something to take hold of], but he emptied himself (v 6). Talk about true humility in the mind of Christ.
Jesus didn’t exalt himself, setting himself higher than everyone else in the room, pretending to be a better Christian than everyone else. In fact, the mind of Christ did the opposite: he lowered himself in service to those who would deny him and even betray him. Jesus emptied himself in complete service to the world.
As he rode into Jerusalem to the praise of the people, the mind of Christ was focused on going to the cross, recognizing that the sin in our lives needs to be punished and die. The mind of Christ had to stay true to himself. The mind of Christ stayed focused on delivering to you the perfect sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins, so that he can put an end to death, even death of the cross ... the death of all the worst suffering you can imagine. The mind of Christ stayed focused on reconciling sons and daughters with their mothers and fathers, and fathers and mothers with their sons and daughters. Have this mind among you.
Though he was the Son of God in glory, he didn’t count this glory as something to take hold of, to grasp, to clutch onto in some self-serving way as we are all so prone to do. The most glorious thing about his glory is that it’s a glory of selflessness ... not prone to anger ... not holding grudges ... but always forgiving.
Everywhere the mind of Christ looked, he saw people in need, and so he was obedient to himself ... obedient to the demands of his divine love. He didn’t redefine himself as God, like we do today, declaring I can live how I want to live, that I get to define the Word of God on my terms. Instead, he took the form of a slave, which is lower than human status (v 7). He subjected himself to the pain and sorrows we all know so well. He became like you and me, destined to die. [He] humbled himself, having become obedient as far as death, even death of a cross (v 8). That is true humility.
He put sin to death for you.
2. Have this mind among you: Only he can do that.
Jesus Christ is God ... he’s always been God ... and will always be God ... but that is another discussion. He isn’t asking us to imitate him as God. As the Son of Man, Jesus can’t be less than God. He’s equal with the Father in divinity. We can’t imitate that; we lost that image in the garden. But whatever it is to be God, with all the power and glory and whatever, Jesus has it. He can do anything, anywhere, anytime. There’s no way to truly appreciate all Jesus that had or all that He gave up.
But know this, and understand this: He didn’t count his divinity as too great or too precious or too important for you. He humbled himself for you. He didn’t hold onto his own glory and power ... He laid aside his knowledge and became an infant in the womb. He laid aside his glory and became not merely human, but helpless. That’s what Paul means when he says that Jesus emptied himself. He traded places with us, suffering like us. He became sin for us to appease the full wrath of a just and righteous God for us, so that he could give us what we don’t deserve, full redemption from death.
1. He did this so that you can have the mind of Christ, too.
If you want to think like Jesus ... and believe me, if you are a Christian YOU DO ... because a soul regenerated in Christ’s image through holy baptism (Titus 3:4-7) has the mind of Christ (1 Cor 2:16) ... then this is what you should imitate, humility.
Confess your sins to God and one another. Repent and believe the Gospel. The man who has the mind of Christ is obedient to this. He knows he can’t have his own way, even though he has a right to. He faces indignity and insults and embarrassments, and he seeks reconciliation. That is the mind of Christ.
Then, as we press on through Holy Week, in the mind of Christ, come, eat and drink and be strengthened and cleansed and prepared. Allow God always to feed your souls as He does your bodies, and allow him to change your mind, by the power of the Holy Spirit. Trust God to take care of you through word and sacrament. Live as though God has given you everything you need in the sacraments of baptism and the altar. He gave us his gifts of word and sacrament for this reason ... to deliver the forgiveness of sins ... to unite himself with us and us with each other ... making us one just as he is one. This is the mind of Christ.
He has placed you here to lead those who have not yet believed into this communion with him. Have this in mind among yourselves, giving glory to God that He did this on behalf of you so that we can all rejoice in the buildup to the greatest ending, eternal life in his name, the name that is above every name (Ps 118:24; Phil 2:19).