He humbled himself… 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 (Philippians 2:8-10).
You are warmly welcome! We will be celebrating the Resurrection in just three weeks’ time; today’s scriptural texts (Php 2 and Luke 19) point us there well, as we consider the way of humility that was exemplified by Zacchaeus, Paul, and Jesus Christ himself – here on earth and when He first came down.
Resurrection was a vitally important victory Jesus won; yet it was from much humility, that is summarized in one word: the Cross! It was great enough humility for the Lord to come from his heavenly glory to become a man; but he even added many more illustrations in his conduct and words, to drag us away from selfishness to selflessness. On his final trip to Jerusalem, our Saviour encountered a corrupt tax collector who was still hungry for life and craved the fun of beholding the ‘celeb’ Rabbi passing through Jericho; Zacchaeus was so determined that he beat the odds of his short stature by climbing a tree just to catch a glimpse of the man! Jesus saw his deeper need and decided to exercise risky humility and visit this physically humble man – remember tax collectors were usually counted with prostitutes in the same set of extreme sinners!
Through Jesus’ visit, the tax collector laid down his pride, repented and promised to pay back handsomely everyone he owed. Humility is that infectious sometimes. Today we see and talk about Zacchaeus in new favourable light.
In his letter to the Philippians, Paul uses Christ’s experience of suffering to call upon his hearers to humility that will finally result in being exalted just like Jesus was exalted to the highest place. Philippi was a city full of Roman veterans trained in the Roman wars to hardness and discipline and loyalty; they were proud of being Roman citizens. Paul exhorts them to behave as citizens worthy of the gospel of Christ (Php 1:27), and he reminds them that though they were proud of their Roman citizenship, as was he, they all had become members of a heavenly commonwealth, citizenship in which was a much greater benefit. He later explicitly states that “Our citizenship is in heaven” (3:20). This has been facilitated by the humility, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The fullest and most important putting of theology of the incarnation and exaltation is a short passage in Php 2:5-11; exhorting the Philippians to humility, he says to them, ‘have the mind which was in Christ who emptied himself and then was exalted’ - selflessness at its best! Pick your lesson from any of these great characters, and walk in the freedom of a humble disciple of Jesus Christ. May his humility and the power that raised him to life and to the highest place be your aspiration this coming Easter season and beyond.
God bless you!
Rev. Eng. Dr Emmanuel Mwesigwa – CHAPLAIN