Adapted from a sermon preached June 12, 2022
Joanna Harader
Even though it’s been over two and a half years, the January 6 hearings continue. We still remember the news of the mob that stormed the capital, destroyed property, beat guards and police, threatened to kill elected officials, and tried to prevent the certification of the presidential election.
Where I live, in Lawrence, KS, there is a plaque that commemorates the 1882 lynching of Isaac King, George Robertson, and Peter Vinegar by a mob of at least 100 white men. As part of the ceremony, Ryan Brown read her winning student essay in which she commented on how those in power refused to hold anyone in that mob accountable for their murderous actions.
Maybe I should be preaching on Ecclesiastes instead of Philippians this morning: “There is nothing new under the sun.” Two white mobs, nearly 140 years apart; people fueled by fear, by entitlement, by anger, trying to exert their power through violence. Two mobs that were not stopped or held properly accountable because they were, in fact, carrying out the will of those in power.
Violent forms of power were likewise celebrated in the first century Roman Empire. Really, there is nothing new under the sun. New Testament scholar Katherine Shaner describes stone monuments of that era that celebrate the empire’s power over the people; for example, one with a Roman emperor/god figure holding a female figure by her hair.
These Roman monuments were considered pious and patriotic by many people in Rome—as was the white mob that hung three black men off of the bridge in 1882, and those who stormed the capital on January 6, 2021.
Paul’s letter to the church in Philippi offers a view of power that is counter to that of the dominant culture. Biblical scholar Douglas F. Ottati writes that in this passage “Paul is recommending an alternative ethic.” (Feasting on the Word, Year C., Vol. 2, p. 174) An alternative ethic.
“Do nothing from selfish ambition or empty conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves.”
“Let each of you look not to your own interests but to the interests of others.”
Be like Christ, who emptied himself, taking the form of a slave.
In first century Roman culture and 21st century American culture, this encouragement of humility and servanthood is certainly present, but it only applies to certain people. Females are often encouraged to put the interests of others ahead of their own. People of lower socio-economic status are often expected to regard others as better than themselves. The idea of Christ taking the form of a slave has been used to keep oppressed people compliant for centuries.
Of course some people should be humble. But in Paul’s culture and ours, “winners” don’t abide by these principles. “Winning” means being ambitious, regarding oneself highly, looking out for “#1,” claiming power in every situation.
The alternative ethic Paul presents is that this call to humility applies to everyone. In fact, I’ve been wondering if what he says doesn’t most especially apply to the people who had been told they were the “winners.” It was the literate community leaders that would have read this letter first, and likely most often as they shared it with others. Perhaps it was these Christians who had the social status that allowed them to be literate, that held leadership positions in the church, that Paul most wanted to reach: “Look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.”
I’ll be honest: this line makes me a little nervous. Because looking to the interests of others only works if others are, in turn, looking to your interests. It only works in true, healthy community. If everyone looks to the interests of everyone else, then everyone’s interests are tended to. But, if some people look to the interests of others, while those others are also looking to their own interests, you end up with deep injustice, oppression, co-dependency.
I expect—I hope—that those of us who consider ourselves Christian, and certainly those of us who claim to be Mennonite, won’t have much trouble affirming Paul’s alternative ethic here. We understand that the way of the white mobs is not the way of Christ. Even though we don’t live it out perfectly, we believe that we are called to be humble and look to the needs of others.
That’s all to say that you all do not need a sermon from me—or a letter from Paul–to convince you that “Christian Nationalism” is an oxymoron. You may appreciate the reminder, but you don’t need convincing.
I wonder, though, if the ethic Paul presents here is not just an alternative to blatant pride, selfishness, and oppression, but if it also might present an alternative to some of the ways we tend to do church.
Covid has disrupted churches and shifted how we do worship in some significant ways—ways we thought were temporary but seem to have longer-than-expected effects. We have all been challenged to look to the interests of others as we negotiated online worship options, considered mask policies, and adjusted various worship and social practices. And at Peace Mennonite, like at many other churches, we have realized that the online options we created during Covid actually meet the needs of others beyond the pandemic—people who live at a distance, people who have mobility challenges, even people who are travelling.
“Let each of you look not to your own interests but to the interests of others.”
This admonition from Paul can lead to a healthy, beautiful, vibrant church—if everyone takes it to heart.
When we truly humble ourselves, it is not other people who are lifted up, but Jesus who is exalted. Or, maybe more helpfully, when we give glory to God, we then do not glorify ourselves or the powers of this world.
Worship is both the end and the means of living a faithful life in community. It is how we experience the beauty of community that Paul speaks of in the opening lines of today’s reading: comfort in Christ, consolation from love, partnership in the Spirit, tender affection and sympathy, complete joy.
Thanks be to God.
Some notes from a sermon preached in 2019 looking at pride and humility:
–Fun fact: Philippians 2:1-4 is a single sentence in the original Greek:
If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, 2 make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do[ing] nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard[ing] others as better than yourselves. [and] 4 Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.
This passage, I think, is a good place to start trying to unpack the positive and negative aspects of pride and humility. Notice that Paul’s focus here is not on personal piety. He doesn’t tell people to be humble because humility is a virtue and we get special “good girl” stickers if we are properly humble. Paul is not concerned about personal piety; he is concerned about the health of the Christian community. People should regard others as better than themselves so that the community will function well. Humility, in this situation, involves love and compassion and sympathy and being “of the same mind.” Humility is about looking to the interests of others.
It is important to note that there is a mutuality to the humility that Paul calls for—everyone is expected to put others ahead of themselves; everyone is expected to practice compassion towards everyone. This mutuality would have been quite counter-cultural in the midst of the Roman Empire. The cultural expectation was that slaves would be humble. That women would look out for the interests of men. That the poor would regard the rich as better than themselves.
But the true virtue in Christian humility is the expectation that everyone practices humility. The expectation that masters, men, the rich especially practice humility.
In fact, the Christian community Paul urges the Philippians—and us—to create only works if everyone is humble. Humility must come with accountability. Because a community in which only some people are expected to be humble is not a holy community, it is an oppressive community.
So we practice humility in order to create healthy community, and we practice humility because, as Christians, we seek to follow the model of Jesus:
Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,
6 who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
as something to be exploited,
7 but emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form,
8 he humbled himself
and became obedient to the point of death—
even death on a cross.
These verses are sometimes used in harmful ways to urge those suffering abuse to stay in relationship with their abusers, but that is not what this is about. Paul is not counseling an abused person here, he is encouraging a community trying to follow the way of Christ in the face of imperial Roman culture. This was a culture that practiced the cursus honorum, or “course of honor”–a sequence of offices that a Roman aristocrat was to follow as he advanced in his career. This was the way the world worked: you tried to move “up” in the world and then you could treat “lower” people as lesser. Jesus turns this on his head—he moved down, and he treated the people “below” him with respect and love while refusing to bow down to the people above him.
Despite how these verses sometimes get used, humility in the model of Jesus is not about submitting to those more powerful than you;
• it is about refusing to use the power you have in self-serving ways
• it is about subverting the cultural mandate to “get ahead” because God calls you to “stay with”
• it is about refusing to consider ourselves better or more important than other people who are also made in God’s image
• it is about following the way of Jesus in the deepest sense—insisting on love no matter what the consequences
True humility does not mean we do not love, respect, and care for ourselves. True humility means that we recognize the ways that our own lives are connected to all of life—human and otherwise. True humility means recognizing our humanity and trusting God’s divinity.
I wonder, what would it mean for us—what would it mean for me, for you—to set aside the bad kind of pride this week and try to live out the humility that Jesus modeled?
• Can we recognize the power we have and use it for the good of those who have less?
• Can we serve those around us—in our families and our church—and can we expect and allow them to serve us as well?
• Might we need to pass up an opportunity for “advancement” so we can be present where God has called us to be?
• Who do we need to be paying more attention to?
• Who do we need to be holding accountable?
Spacious Faith 