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band type of bracelets that people wear nowadays that have the “What Would Jesus
Do?” slogan on it, or maybe just the initials WWJD. I get the message, I think. I believe
the slogan intends to point out that we should be doing what Jesus is doing. Or, that
we should be like Jesus, because whatever situation we found ourselves in, if Jesus
were also in that exact same situation, He would of course do the right thing, and then
so should we. So the idea is that when we are faced with a moral choice, we should ask
ourselves, “what would Jesus do if He were faced with the same moral choice that I am
now faced with?” And then we answer ourselves, “Jesus would make the right moral
choice, so I should do likewise.”
And I believe there is a good intention behind this popular slogan. But is it exactly
the kind of thing that Jesus taught? Did Jesus ever say this in one of His sermons or in
one of His teachings, or did He ever ask people, “What would I do?” Did Jesus ever
say, “if I were in your place, here’s what I would do?” Not quite. Jesus didn’t really
teach that way. Nor is the rest of New Testament teaching presented quite that way.
For one thing, it’s impossible to know what Jesus would do or would have done in
literally every situation of everyone’s life because He hasn’t been in every situation.
For example, a few years ago, I read an article in which some scholars or politicians
were debating environmental issues. And one of them brought a Christian perspective
to bear on the discussion. He asked whether Jesus would have owned an SUV. He was
pointing out the moral or ethical aspect of environmental issues. Sport-Utility Vehicles
are large and luxurious and notoriously poor on gas mileage. And so this person was
questioning whether it’s right to own such vehicles when resources are limited? He
seemed to be suggesting that it may be self-indulgent to own an SUV. And so, would
Jesus would have owned one?
How could we answer that question? How do we know what Jesus would do? As
far as we can tell, Jesus traveled only by foot, or on a borrowed donkey. I have this
image of what Palm Sunday would have been like if Jesus had cruised into Jerusalem in
an SUV.
Perhaps a better slogan would be: What Would Jesus Have Us Do? Or better yet,
maybe this one: “What Has Jesus Commanded Us To Do?” In the Gospels, what we do
have are many instances of Jesus telling his listeners what He would have them do.
Grammatically, these are what are known as imperatives. An imperative, as you may
recall from grade school, is when someone gives a command, and the sentence begins
with a verb and the subject is the “understood you” which goes unspoken. Imperatives
are sentences like “come here!” or “listen to what I’m saying” or “pick that up, please”.
(You use a lot of imperatives with children.)
Here’s a few of the many imperatives of Jesus: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven
is at hand” or “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men” or “Let your light shine
before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father
who is in heaven”. And there are many more.
But can we go around with a list of all the commands or imperatives of Jesus, so
that we can refer to them at will? Can we store them in a Blackberry or some other kind
of hand-held computer? Maybe 3 x 5 cards?
No. Paul has another imperative for us here in his letter to the Philippians. And if it’
s an imperative from Paul, we can be certain Paul got it from the Lord Himself. In the
Acts of the Apostles, Jesus says to Ananias “Go, for he (Paul) is a chosen instrument of
mine . . .”
Paul’s imperative can help us clear this up. Paul says “have this mind among
yourselves, which was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not
count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a
servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form he
humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross.”
Have the mind of Christ in you. And the mind of Christ is humility. Jesus emptied
Himself of Himself. Our Epistle for today started at verse five in the second chapter of
Philippians. Just prior to that, Paul says, “do nothing from selfishness or conceit, but in
humility count others better than yourselves.”
Now that part about counting others better than yourselves needs some
explanation. The humble person is not necessarily the one who always thinks lowly of
himself. It’s not necessarily humility to constantly think that everyone else is
qualitatively better than you. One Christian author wrote, “the humble person is not
one who thinks meanly of himself, he simply doesn’t think of himself at all.” At least the
humble person doesn’t think of himself at in terms of priority. To the humble person, it
is always the other who takes priority. And so by saying we are to count others better
than ourselves, Paul simply means that we take others into consideration first, every
time, rather than ourselves.
It seems natural for us, in our fallen condition, to be self-oriented, self-interested,
and self-directed. We like to think of ourselves as autonomous, self-made individuals
with inalienable rights. We’re prepared to go to the mat if we feel any of that is
threatened.
But these are the things that Jesus emptied Himself of. And the emptying of self
and the humbling of self, to put others before the self, these are the mind of Christ.
It’s hard enough for mere mortals to do that. Now think of what it means for the
Son of God, who knew equality with God, to empty Himself not only of all self-interest,
but also of His own Godliness. What a step downward it was for God to become a
man. To say that it would be like a man becoming a worm doesn’t even come close.
Jesus gave up what was rightly His in order to become one of us to save us. The
magnitude of how much He loves us, and what He did for us cannot be measured.
But there is another aspect of humility. Bishop Parsons taught us that humility
means facing or accepting the truth about oneself. For us that means facing the truth
that we are sinners. And it also means that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us
and that we are loved by Him more than we know.
For Jesus, the truth about Himself is that He is the King of Kings and Lord of
Lords. And those who follow Him rejoice at His coming and praise His Holy Name and
shout ‘Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!”
Only a truly humble man could rightly accept such praise from His followers without
letting it inflate His ego. Only the humblest of all men could so deny Himself and be
obedient even to the death. And it is certain death, which Jesus ultimately rides toward
as He enters Jerusalem amidst the adoring shouts of praise and the waving of the
palms. What was on His mind as He began His final week on earth? It was to count
others before Himself, to do the will of His Father and not His own will. That is the mind
of Christ. Have this mind among yourselves, which was in Christ Jesus.
Amen!
Father Wagner