By Henry DeVries
“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.“
(Philippians 2:5-8)
March 25 is the day that the church remembers The Annunciation, the angel Gabriel appearing to Mary to tell her that she will give birth to Jesus. It seems odd to have this remembrance in the middle of Lent, but when we think of it, that was Christ’s purpose all along, to die for our sins. Nathan Mitchell puts it into perspective: Christmas does not ask us to pretend we were back in Bethlehem, kneeling before a crib; it asks us to recognize that the wood of the crib became the wood of the cross.
As we look to these verses from Philippians, the word humble jumps out at me. Have you ever been humbled? Of course, we all have. As we look into the mirror of God’s Law, we should all feel humbled, because we have broken it, and deserve death. Though we deserve death, our merciful God had another plan. He sent his Son Jesus to be born and Jesus humbled Himself, He suffered and died for us, so that the law could be fulfilled. He took God’s wrath and judgment for us. I think of this and I am humbled again.
O Lord, as we have known the incarnation of Your Son, Jesus Christ, by the message of the angel to the virgin Mary, so by the message of His cross and passion bring us to the glory of His resurrection. Amen