Our Humble King Comes to Serve
Though he was by nature God, he did not consider equality with God as a prize to be displayed, but he emptied himself by taking the nature of a servant. When he was born in human likeness, and his appearance was like that of any other man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:6–8)
If you’ve ever heard anything about other religions, almost every other religion talks about their gods coming down to earth. Almost always, the god comes down and at some point makes known to those around them that they are a god by a display of their power and their strength. They want people to know that they are more powerful than human beings, that they want to be served.
2000 years ago, our God came down to earth. But he didn’t come down to be served by those whom he served. He didn’t display his power over human being so that we would be afraid of him. Instead, Jesus was born of the virgin Mary, fully human. He grew and was like any other human being, except without sin. And when the time came, he went to Jerusalem to be a servant to the whole world. He didn’t flash his strength and power. No, he gave up the full use of his power so that he could die a criminal’s death. By his death, he washed away all sins of all time.
Though he could have destroyed his enemies, he could have displayed his power and demanded that people worship him, he took the humble form of a servant, riding on a donkey into Jerusalem to die at the hands of those who claimed to be godly men so that we might be able to praise him for all of eternity. And through it all, he demonstrated God’s love for us. He is our humble king who rode into Jerusalem to serve us with his death and resurrection. Amen.
The song for today is “The Servant King” by Maranatha! Music