Christmas at Paul’s
December 29, 2024
Philippians 2:1-11, Galatians 2:20
Adopt the attitude that was in Christ Jesus:
Though he was in the form of God,
he did not consider being equal with God some
thing to exploit.
But he emptied himself
by taking the form of a slave
and by becoming like human beings.
When he found himself in the form of a human,
he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the
point of death, even death on a cross.
Philippians 2:5-8
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Christmas Day is over and for many, the decorations have already been put away. We’ve enjoyed four Christmas feasts at the home’s of Mark, Matthew, Luke and John and now it’s time for everyone to go home.
I find it strange how much effort goes into Christmas preparation and how quickly we seem to want to move on without taking time to enjoy it. When a new baby is born, we don’t ooh and ahh over it for a day or two and then leave it behind at the hospital. We take the child home and our lives are never the same.
So how about just one more stop on our Christmas tour, at Paul’s house. “Paul?” you might ask. What does he have to do with Christmas. He didn’t even encounter Jesus until after the resurrection. Paul missed didn’t just miss the birthday party, he missed Jesus’ whole life.
Perhaps, and yet, Paul writes one of the earliest hymns of the church in Philippians 2 that may be one of the most important Christmas songs in history. Christ was in the form of God and yet did not consider being equal with God something to exploit. But he emptied himself by taking the form of a slave and by becoming like human beings. He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
For someone who didn’t even bring a gift to the baby shower, Paul seems to have a pretty solid grasp of exactly what God is up to in the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Paul understands that Christmas isn’t really about the details of Jesus’ birth at all. It’s about incarnation. It’s about God becoming flesh to dwell among us. No, more than that… it’s about God humbling Godself even to the point of death. It’s about a God who doesn’t just become one of us and hide away in a royal palace, but who actually suffers with us and identifies with the grief, the pain and the agony of being human.
Bringing a baby home changes things. It is usually joyful in many ways, but it is also hard. There is pain not only in childbirth, but in raising a child, in watching the child struggle and hurt throughout their own lives, in letting the child go, and in learning to walk alongside him or her in a new way as adults.
Paul says that the attitude of humility in Christ should be our attitude. In essence, he’s telling us that we can’t just show up for the party and leave the baby laying in the manger while we go back to our ordinary lives. The incarnation of Jesus changes us. Through Jesus, God shows us exactly what humanity is supposed to look like, how we are supposed to live, to serve, and to love one another as Christ loved us.
Paul’s house may not be decorated like the others, but for Paul, Christmas never ends. The baby doesn’t stay in the manger, and he doesn’t stay a baby. Jesus makes his home among us. Jesus grows with us and in us.
And so we must grow too.
As Christ becomes like us, so we must become like him.
