Face to Face With The Man of No Reputation...

This is an excerpt from some of what I'll be speaking about this weekend in Alabama, at the church of my dear friends Cindy and Dave Lewis...

Philippians 2:7 tells us about Jesus taking on the form of a human. It tells us how he relinquished His Heavenly form, (without relinquishing His holiness and deity of course) and wrapped Himself in human flesh. The KJV says "He became a man of no reputation". The NIV reads "He made himself nothing". The words are stunning. Jesus, the very son of God, willingly chose to leave the throne of Heaven and come to earth and become one of us. And He did it in such ignoble fashion. He truly made Himself nothing. As my dear friend Rick has said "He was born in a barn, and he died on a trash heap with spit running down his face...and I call Him Lord". He was undesirable and unlovely. He probably looked nothing like Jim Caviezel. What can we glean from this truth? What truth about our Savior can we extract from this fundamental fact...that Jesus came here and willingly made Himself nothing.
First of all He didn't have to do it that way. It was God's plan for Jesus to be born to a poor, unwed, teenage Jewish girl. He could have just walked into the scene at age 33 and started preaching in the temple. They could have done all the same things to him. He could have been born into a wealthy family, maybe come from better stock. As long as it was someone in David's family the prophecies would have been fulfilled. He could have allowed himself the luxury of owning a house instead of having "Nowhere to lay His head". But he didn't.
He chose to be lonely, hungry, poor, often tired, misunderstood, badgered, heckled, slandered, attacked by the religious zealots, falsely accused, tempted, isolated, betrayed, rejected, sorrowful, broken hearted, and frustrated with the progress of his closest friends toward their ultimate goal. He obeyed His Father even when it hurt. Why did He do all those things? Why were those descriptives accurate about his life? Why did He come here and live for 33 years in a lifestyle completely opposed to what He left behind in Heaven? Feeling our pain and touching our weaknesses had nothing to do with salvation. That required a sinless sacrifice and nothing more. That was the part only He could do. So why did He choose to actually be born here, grow up here, live here, minister here, (again...healing the sick was not required for our salvation...) and be brutally murdered here? And why did He stay here for three days and come back to life here and then go home to heaven?
My guess...because he knew our hearts. He knew how easily we might accept salvation, yet still allow fear to keep us away from Him. He didn't save us from a distance...He saved us from ourselves...because He became one of us. There are a lot more people in this world who fit the description of Jesus' life I just laid out. There are a vast majority of beaten bedraggled, homeless, accused, lonely, sad, sorrowful, burdened, betrayed people who need desperately to see a God who doesn't just save them out of angry, begrudging condescension. They need to see a God who adores them so much that He would pursue them through history and travel from one dimension to another and actually become one of them, while still being Him, and feel all those hurts and wounds and pains and emotions. Because He knew that mankind would create an image of an angry, resentful, never-pleased God who the average Joe would be afraid of. So He smashed that image and showed them instead, a poor, lowly, sorrowful, servant, who had been betrayed, ridiculed, misunderstood, and even homeless. They could approach that Savior. They could look into the eyes of a man who had been where they are now...and they could believe Him when he said "my yoke is easy and my burden is light"
He became nothing, because all of us nothings needed him to be easily approachable. He bested all our expectations and one-upped all our dreams. And now He waits for us all...come as you are...

Maundy Thursday cont...

Jesus was facing His impending death. He knew this by now. He knew how bad it would be to take on the sin of the world. He knew that it meant separation from his Father. He knew it meant a battle for the souls of men even though He knew there was no good thing in those souls. He chose to come here, chose to live here and chose to die here, for us. In those last hours, I wonder what went through his mind. Did he write a letter to Mary and tell her he loved her? Did he find himself caught up in reminiscences of happy times in his childhood? Did He draw a deep breath and smell the salt spray of the ocean that last night in Bethany? Did he spend any special, individual time with his friends...time we don't know about...chatting and remembering? Did he choke on his words at any point? Was he emotional at all? When he performed the breaking of the bread, the liturgy we now use to celebrate His death, did it make him wince just a little? For us it is symbolism...for Him, at that moment...it was about to happen for real. Did He wonder how God was going to pull this little band together after He was gone? I know he trusted His father to do it, and take care of them, but did He wonder to Himself..."I don't know how, Father...they still don't seem to get it." Did He commend his few personal effects to one of his friends...maybe telling them to sell them and give the money to his mother? When he dipped the bread into the bowl and declared Judas the traitor...did his hand touch Judas' for an instant and did it break his heart? When he told Judas, "What you do...do quickly..." was there breaking in his voice? Most of us have been betrayed by a friend at one time or other...few have known full well it was coming. Jesus was a man, after all...the Total man...how would I have handled this? Thank God we never have to find out.

Stay tuned...