The proof of Jesus’ authenticity was his ability to do the impossible. He did perfectly what no human has ever been able to do. But Paul then says in Philippians 2:5, “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus.”
So that’s the proof of our authenticity too: it’s doing the impossible. And the impossible in one particular attitude of Jesus too, that he “did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,” verse 6. Which rings a rather large bell, because Adam and Eve, picturing all of us, took an immediate liking to the serpent’s claim that “your eyes will be opened and you’ll be like God” – you can “grasp equality with God,” in other words.
So God got the point across very quickly that we humans are suckers for wanting to be like him. But Jesus as a human like Adam and Eve and the rest of us, did the opposite: he “made himself nothing,” stripped himself willingly of all his divine privileges, “and chose instead the humbling position of a slave” (7), because the driving force in his life was to obey his Father’s will, without any gain to himself or the slightest hint of “selfish ambition or vain conceit” (3).
Impossible? Absolutely. Good, because if we find ourselves rather surprisingly operating on the same wavelength as Jesus once in a while, there’s our proof that our Christianity is real. And especially in a world driven by people in leadership positions who blatantly make it obvious they are driven by selfish ambition and vain conceit, and they’ll do anything to protect their privileged status. They feed on the “divine right” they give themselves to decide what’s good and evil for the rest of us, create a bureaucracy that serves their interests rather than serving ours, and woe to anyone who dares to expose or threaten them.
It’s very tempting, therefore, to simply give in to being like that too, because if our noble leaders are like that, why can’t we?
But Jesus chose a human life in a world just like ours in its attitudes, so he knew firsthand that in such a world “we’ll have trouble” resisting it, John 16:33. “But take heart,” he said, because “I overcame it.” He never gave in to it. Which in our day to day experience by comparison seems impossible. But Jesus is saying, “No, it isn’t,” because in his life and teaching (same verse) he gave us the clue to “How the impossible becomes possible”….(next blog)
