The folks from the Sanhedrin were trying to
determine authority. They questioned Jesus
about his authority to do and say the things he
did. They denied their own authority to make
decisions about prophets when Jesus asks them a
pointed question.
Jesus told a story that causes me to think of the
two brothers in the parable of the prodigal son.
This story of the two sons contains Jesus’s main
Gospel message: What God calls for is
repentance on the part of those who are in need
of grace and are willing to acknowledge their
need. The proud, the self-righteous, “religious”
people do not know of their own need and refuse
the message. Religious respectability means
nothing in God’s sight unless the person is truly
repentant.
Paul steps in and tells us, as religious people,
how to avoid being self-righteous and proud. “If
you’ve gotten anything at all out of following
Christ, if his love has made any difference in
your life, if being in a community of the Spirit
means anything to you, if you have a heart, if
you care-then do me a favor: Agree with each
other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends.
Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-
talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and
help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with
getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves
long enough to lend a helping hand.” [The
Message] And the authority upon which Paul
places this way of being is from Jesus the Christ.
The phrase: “agree with one another” has been
translated “set your mind on the same thing” and
“being of the same mind”. A better translation of
the Greek verb might be “to center ones thinking
on something and to steer ones actions by this
mind-set”. Paul is telling the members of the
church at Philippi to set their minds and guide
their lives by the same thing, to have the same
love. It doesn’t mean the church community
must come to consensus and walk lockstep
forward in the world. Behind these words one
can see their might have been some contention
in the church. When people become enthusiastic
about what they are doing, they can rub one
another the wrong way. At one time there were
parishes with large Cursillo communities.
Sometimes those who had not made a weekend
felt left out or felt considered “less than”. And
folks who were invited to go to Cursillo were
seen as leaders, as influencers so they often held
offices within the congregation. Some folks
would perhaps be overwhelmed by going to a
Cursillo weekend. It certainly wasn’t for
everyone. Sadly, we no longer have a Cursillo
movement in our diocese. And, there are
problems with any movement-as Paul addresses
in his many letters.
The point Paul is making about living and acting
in community is that all the actions and
interactions of the church should be based on
mutual love. At times, within a community,
different people feel called to do different things.
We can support and promote one another in
these calls and our underlying principle must be
to glorify Christ in all we do rather than looking
for glory for ourselves. “Put yourself aside, and
help others get ahead. Forget yourselves long
enough to lend a helping hand.”
As you all know, I spend a bit of my time with
other volunteers for Camp Victory. I have been
doing this for 21 years now. Some of the
volunteers are Christian, some are Jewish, there
are Buddhists, and some follow alternate
spiritual paths. We all come together to set
ourselves aside so we can serve the children who
come to our camps. Some of us were sexually
abused or assaulted when we were minors so we
understand somewhat the experiences of our
campers. That icky feeling that something is
happening that isn’t right. And, the continual
mantra at Camp Victory is: “This camp weekend
isn’t about you, it’s about the children.” We
provide a safe place for the campers to thrive
and to learn what it is like to have autonomy in
their actions-as long as they are safe. The adults
are there to “lend a helping hand”.
Paul tells us to think of ourselves the way Christ
Jesus thought about himself. And, Paul inserts a
hymn about Jesus that predates this letter to the
Philippians to illustrate the way Jesus saw
himself. “He had equal status with God but
didn’t think so much of himself that he had to
cling to the advantages of that status no matter
what. Not at all. When the time came, he set
aside the privileges of deity and took on the
status of a slave, became human! Having
become human, he stayed human. It was an
incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim
special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless,
obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient
death…Because of that obedience, God lifted
him high and honored him far beyond anyone or
anything, ever, so that all created beings in
heaven and on earth-even those long ago dead
and buried-will bow in worship before this Jesus
Christ, and call out in praise that he is the Master
of all, to the glorious honor of God…”.
This hymn may have had a liturgical use. Paul is
using this hymn as worship that becomes the
basis of action and the praise it contains is a
motive for ethical practice. Act in accord with
your praise. If we praise Jesus for his humility in
setting aside who he was for others, then aren’t
we called to do the same?
It is not our ignorance or sin that holds most of
us back it is bondage. To obtain redemption, we
must deal with the tyrannies that cause bondage.
Camp Victory works to break this tyranny by
helping children set boundaries and also
experience adults who do not want to order them
around and expect the campers to fill the adult’s
needs. The adults they meet set healthy
boundaries and are there to meet the needs of the
children. “What would you like to do? Crafts,
archery, the climbing wall, a visit to The House
With No Name for some hair chalk or nail
polish, get a snack, or play volleyball or swing
on the swings? I wonder who would like to go
with us.”
There are all sorts of things that hold people in
bondage, I believe Paul wanted us to see that if
we follow Jesus, we need to do what he did. He
looked at his society he had willingly come to
live within and he saw people in bondage. He
reached out to those who were bound by social
ills and tried to break those bonds. He reached
out to those who exercised their power over
others and tried to make them see what they
were doing: placing their own advantage and
privilege over others. He reached out to those
who were ill and released them from the
bondage of being unclean.
The passage from Philippians concludes: “What
I’m getting at, friends, is that you should simply
keep on doing what you’ve been doing from the
beginning. When I was living among you, you
lived in responsive obedience. Now that I’m
separated from you, keep it up. Better yet,
redouble your efforts. Be energetic in your life
of salvation, reverent and sensitive before God.”
Jesus’s authority came from God. Our authority
comes from Jesus. And, if we truly are touched
by what Jesus did, we will set ourselves aside
long enough to lend a helping hand.