Philippians 2:9-11 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

Therefore God also highly exalted him

and gave him the name

that is above every name,

so that at the name of Jesus

every knee should bend,

in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

and every tongue should confess

that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father.

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross.

So read the words that the apostle Paul quotes In Philippians chapter 2 as he writes about the incarnation of the Christ.

Soren Kierkegaard, the 19th century danish philosopher and theologian, is, among so much more, well known for his insightful parables.

One such parable is titled, the parable of a king and the maiden and it goes like this:

‘Suppose there was a king who loved a humble maiden.

The king was like no other king. Every statesman trembled before his power. No one dared breathe a word against him, for he had the strength to crush all opponents. And yet this mighty king was melted by love for a humble maiden.

How could he declare his love for her? In an odd sort of way, his very kingliness tied his hands. If he brought her to the palace and crowned her head with jewels and clothed her body in royal robes, she would surely not resist—no one dared resist him. But would she love him?

She would say she loved him, of course, but would she truly? Or would she live with him in fear, nursing a private grief for the life she had left behind. Would she be happy at his side? How could he know?

If he rode to her forest cottage in his royal carriage, with an armed escort waving bright banners, that too would overwhelm her. He did not want a cringing subject. He wanted a lover, an equal. He wanted her to forget that he was a king and she a humble maiden and to let shared love cross over the gulf between them.

“For it is only in love that the unequal can be made equal,”

The king, convinced that he could not elevate the maiden without crushing her freedom resolved to descend. He clothed himself as a common man, and approached her cottage with a worn coat fluttering loosely about him. It was not just a disguise, the king took on a whole new identity. He renounced the throne to declare his love, and win hers.”

It is the story of the incarnation.

God emptying Godself to become like humanity to experience humanity and to draw us into God’s love and grace.

In the emptying, he was born the way every human being has ever been. I know we focus on the miraculous story telling about angels and stars and strangers from afar, but the point of the story is that Jesus is born in basically the same way all of us are born~ through grit and grime, struggle and pain.

In the emptying, he was brought up in a small, rural community far away from the major religious or cultural centers. Raised in poverty, like the rest of his community, the child of peasants. There was not a grand palace or the trappings of grandeur.

A Teacher, A preacher, A story teller, A prophet.

A friend. A role model.

A healer. A miracle worker. A sage.

An inviter. An accepter. An includer.

A protector. A Comforter.

A voice of calm. A voice of advocacy. A voice of truth.

A justice proclaimer. A community organizer.

Arrested. Tortured. Shamed. Killed.

It is the story of the King who loved so much that to give up what he was was ok, because it just might bring others to see the truth.

The truth is that love wins.

And there is a next chapter to the story of the incarnation.

Back to Paul in Philippians,

“Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Now exalted, lifted up.

But in the exaltation of Christ there is a asterisk.

Christ is exalted not because of divinity.

Christ is exalted not because of power.

Christ is exalted not because of authority.

Christ is exalted not because of sovereignty.

Christ is exalted not because he won.

Christ is exalted precisely because Christ emptied himself. And in the emptying, he invited us to embrace his way and participate in the new thing he is creating.

The great line that we like to quote, almost in a boast, almost to say, our religion is the best, that it wins, “at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father,” is not about victory, or about power, or about sovereignty. Rather, every knee shall bow is in humble response to the humble emptying of the Christ, the coming of Christ.

We believe that the kingdom of God, inaugurated by and ushered in by Jesus Christ is growing around us and as we embrace love over hate, kindness over power, mercy over judgement, inclusion over exclusion that kingdom grows and grows as humanity recognizes the love and grace that surrounds us. In response to that love and grace, our natural response is to acknowledge the One who displayed it in our midst- the exalted One, the one who had emptied himself of divinity’s privilege to embrace us in our humanness is now Lord of life.

Amen.