The Humility of Christ
At the end of his sermon this past weekend, Pastor Ryan Aufenkamp ended by reading Philippians 2:5-11 which reflects on the humility of Christ by submitting to the Father’s will, taking on human form, and humbling himself to the point of death on a cross. For many of us, these words are a familiar sound to our ears. We often talk about the cross and look to Christ as our example, but the gut-wrenching reality of Christ’s humiliation is something that we can so easily forget not being people who live in the first-century Roman world.
The second-century Alexamenos Graffito shown above describes how most of the Roman world viewed Jesus and his followers. The graffiti found on a wall in Rome shows a man worshiping Jesus on the cross, but his head is replaced with a donkey to symbolize the lowliness of crucifixion. The words below the image read, “Alexamenos worships his god.” It is intriguing in ancient documents we have access to today that opposition against Christianity wasn’t about someone rising from the dead. Rather, it was around the fact that the Christians would worship a God who was crucified. Many in the ancient world saw crucifixion as so shameful that a god worth worshiping could never be associated with it, and this appears to be the chief problem they had Christianity.
How could such a shameful death become the ultimate prize of Christianity?
- Jesus endured the ultimate test of humility to express his love! There isn’t anything else in that time period and arguably over all of human history that could express Christ’s humility like he did on the cross. This is good news because it reminds us there is no limit to Christ’s love for us!
- The cross isn’t the final word! Again, I think it is fascinating that the ancient world’s issue with Christianity was with the cross and not the resurrection. However, because of the resurrection the cross stands as a symbol that there is nothing that can separate us from the love of God! Even the most dramatic symbol of shame and defeat has not power in stopping our Lord!
When we talk about rejoicing in what Christ has done for us, this isn’t a joy that is backed by emptiness. It’s a joy filled with ultimate hope! We follow a God this week that did not just set a good example for us, but a God who paved the way for us to experience rebirth in Him. Let us faithfully seek the Lord this week as we fight the battle He has already won!
Jacob Abrahamson
Youth Pastor