Philippians 2:5-11
In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
7 rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Jesus: The Name Above All Names
In Greek, it’s just six letters long. In English, five. In Hebrew, only 4. And yet that two-syllable word is the name above all names, the name at which every knee shall bow. Jesus. We’ve heard his name on average once every minute since our worship service began today, and for good reason. He’s our Shepherd, our Saviour, our King. His name should be on our lips, and it should inspire praise, but it hasn’t always been that way. This morning I want to explore what Jesus’ name has meant in the past, what it means today, and what it means for our future.
Jesus. It was a name whispered with hushed excitement by the Passover pilgrims gathered in Jerusalem that year. They were excited because for the last three years Jesus had been building toward celebrity status by his powerful, sometimes controversial, public speaking, by his signs and wonders that defied logical explanation, by his challenge to the status quo and the powers that be.
That’s why their excitement was hushed and whispered. There had even been rumours that if Jesus showed his face in Jerusalem, he’d be arrested or worse, maybe even made to disappear. The Jewish leaders had threatened his life. His own disciples were publicly pleading with him not to attend the Passover. Everyone was wondering if Jesus would show. If there had been such a thing in those days, you’d have to imagine that Jesus’ name and Jesus’ face would have been plastered all over the checkout aisle tabloids, e.g. “Jesus: Messiah or Menace?” “Will Jesus Join Jerusalem Jamboree?”
As silly as those tabloids are, there’s often (sometimes only) the tiniest grain of truth to them. In this case, the rumours were true. Jesus’ name wasn’t only whispered with hushed excitement by the Passover pilgrims, it was muttered in dark corners and behind locked doors by a murderous mob of Jewish leaders. You can even imagine it as an agenda item for one of their covert councils, e.g. “What are we going to do about Jesus?”
The Jewish ruling council didn’t much care for Jesus. In fact, they had been actively searching for a way to kill him for almost 2 years.[1] And as Jesus was approaching Jerusalem this time, they had finally found their answer. Just days before his arrival, they held a furtive meeting with one of Jesus’ own disciples who had agreed to betray him. You can bet that the name Jesus was on the minds and in the mouths of those Jewish leaders.
And then the sun rose on Sunday morning. At first, they must have thought they were hearing things. All of a sudden, the name that had haunted their dreams and that they had been obsessing over for months was in the air; they could hear it with their waking ears. They went out to investigate and there was a proper parade praising that name. People waving palm branches and piling up their pullovers to provide a carpet for Jesus. The Jewish leaders couldn’t believe their ears. To them, it was like nails on a chalkboard. They even reprimanded Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!” But Jesus replied, “If they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”[2]
The truth is, Jesus deserved that praise. He had earned every syllable. And although the full significance of their words flew over the heads of most of the people in the crowd that day, the Apostle Paul gives us a short and simple summary of just what Jesus did to deserve every note of every song they sang.
Christ Jesus, who, being in very nature God did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage… made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.[3]
Jesus is true God from all eternity. He is almighty, all-powerful, all-knowing. He is everywhere all at once and fills every space. He had all authority and every advantage imaginable as he sat at the right hand of his Father in heaven. But Jesus didn’t view his divinity as a feather in his cap or something he was entitled to enjoy purely for his own benefit. Instead, in love, he was willing to give it all up for you. Paul says, “He made himself nothing.”
Jesus left heaven to become human. He emptied himself of the full use of his divine power and privilege. He was born of a woman and lived in this world limiting himself to the confines of a human body, choosing to suffer things that had been foreign to him, like hunger and thirst and exhaustion.
Even before we get to the next sentence of Paul’s letter, we can see something here in Jesus that is rare in this world and that we seldom see in ourselves: true, honest-to-goodness humility. Jesus had certain rights and privileges and powers, but he chose not to claim them in order that he could be a benefit to you.
It’s tax season. It’s not gaming the system or exploiting loopholes if you claim your deductions and collect your refunds. You have a right to them. But what do we often do with our rightfully earned refunds? We fund our next vacation. We pay off debt. We go out to dinner. How many of you have given away your entire refund to somebody else who needed it more and didn’t keep a cent for yourself?
Even if you have, your tax refund is a fraction of your financial resources throughout the year. Some of us don’t even factor it into our family budget, so it becomes little more than monopoly money that we get to do with whatever we want.
The point is, we might manage momentary humility and selflessness sometimes, but has any one of us ever made ourselves nothing, emptied ourselves, chosen not to use any of our powers, rights and privileges for our own benefit but have dedicated all of them in loving service for someone else? I don’t know a single person who could make that claim.
But Jesus could. Jesus did. And that’s why we praise him on Palm Sunday. He didn’t organize this parade. He didn’t orchestrate his own praise. It was freely given by people who didn’t even grasp the full gravity of their words or actions, and who certainly didn’t know what would happen later that week. But we do.
Paul goes on, “And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death – even death on a cross!”[4]
Jesus didn’t just give up all his powers and privileges. He gave up his life on a cross for you. For all the times you’ve selfishly claimed your rights and resources and used them solely for your own benefit, Jesus gave up everything had and was for you. For all the times you’ve prioritized service to self over service to God or others, Jesus made himself a servant to God and to you.
He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death – even death on a cross – and there he paid the price for your sins and mine. By giving his life, he was forgiving your sins, freeing you from the eternal consequences of your actions, ridding you of all guilt and shame, and filling you with his selfless, self-sacrificing love.
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.[5]
The Passover pilgrims on that first Palm Sunday couldn’t have possibly predicted what would happen later that week. But you and I know, and that’s why we continue to praise his name today. We follow traditions that are thousands of years old, but with more information and therefore also more appreciation for what Christ Jesus has done and what his name means for me now and in the future.
Now I can breathlessly mouth that name in silent prayer the moment I first hear the latest piece of news from Ukraine, or from my doctor, or from the family member of a friend who just passed away. “Christ Jesus, you who gave all you are for me and for the world, provide the peace I’m missing, the peace that transcends understanding, the hope that can only come from you, but the confidence of knowing your selfless, self-sacrificing service in love for me and everyone involved.”
Now we can join together in confessing our sins and receiving God’s forgiveness in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, who was so filled with love for you that he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death – even death on a cross![6]
Now we can impress his name on our children, and teach them to love that 5-letter, 2-syllable word that means the world to everyone who believes. Now we can sing his praise, knowing that it may be too often out of tune and too seldomly done, but that one day soon every knee shall bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.[7]
How I look forward to that day, when the praise we give his name on days like today sounds paltry and imperfect compared to the unending hymns of praise we will sing every day and throughout all eternity in the heavenly home of Christ Jesus, the long-promised Saviour of the world, our humble but praiseworthy Lord and King. To him be all glory and honour and praise forever and ever. Amen.
[1] John 5:18
[2] Luke 19:39,40
[3] Philippians 2:6,7
[4] Philippians 2:8
[5] Philippians 2:9-11
[6] Philippians 2:8
[7] Philippians 2:10,11