🦁 Lent 6-1

Readings: Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29; Deuteronomy 16:1-8; Philippians 2:1-11. 

Reflection

Good morning. This is Tim Tribble, broadcasting from Sacramento, California. Today's readings come to us from Psalm 118 verses one and two and 19 to 29, Deuteronomy Chapter 16, verses 1 to 8 and Philippians Chapter two, verses 1 to 11. 

Our reading in Philippians today is titled Christ's Example of Humility. Now, real quick reminder for those of you who don't know the church, Philip II. So Philip II is a very interesting little city. It is a military retirement community for the Roman Legion. So those who served honorably in the Legion and the Roman legions and they completed their service, they in their families were allowed to go to the city of Philip II, where they would live out their retirement. 

This is a community of veterans. And then Paul's letter to the church. Philip II. He talks to them about the humility of Christ.  Christ is the son of God. He could have come down and this huge theatrical white thunder and all this stuff that we read about in the Old Testament up on Mt. Sinai when when God showed himself to Moses and, you know, the sky went dark and all that stuff, He didn't he came down and took the form of a human and humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross. And that last little phrase there, even death on the cross. 

We don't understand crucifixion anymore because we don't do it here in the United States. We have a whole litany about, you know, humane execution. 

Crucifixion is not humane execution. Crucifixion depends on a couple of different forms of it. There's the cross worthy that we refer to where the arms are spread out. There is also one that is on a pole where the arms were up over the head. But what would happen is they would take a person and we say, nail people, think 16 penny, nail. No, think railroad spike. Okay. They would hammer that through the palms, their hands and the top of their feet winding that they're now stuck on this piece of what they would lifted up. How do you hold yourself? You're sitting your weights hanging and you hang forward. And what happens is it constricts your ability to breathe and but not enough that you're going to go right away and not enough. So you pass out right away. People would hang in there for days suffering to death and obviously not something you're looking forward to in verse three. It says, Do nothing from self of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility, count others more significant than yourselves. 

One of the things I enjoyed most when I retired two years ago, I no longer had to put up with the don't you know who I am? How many people do we know? And have we run across the world, especially people in positions of quasi authority who think that yachts, you know, who have look who you know, all this, you know, tied up in what they do. When I was it when I was serving, I was assigned to the 85th Medical Battalion at Fort Meade, Maryland. It doesn't exist anymore than it's gone away. But we had our first battalion commander with Lieutenant Colonel Luster. Colonel Luster was from the great state of Texas. He was a Texas boy when it was his turn to host the officers dinner at the off the monthly dining out at the officer's club. They had Texas barbecue. 

He was an officer. Correct. And so you all know, when you get an officer's vehicle in a vehicle, an officer, they there's certain orders and protocols and things. One of his troops was coming out of the hospital. They were on crutches. They were waiting for the post taxi to take them back to the fifth bed Battalion, to our area, go back to their barracks or Colonel Luster saw them. Hey, yo, do you want my, you know, your salute? Yes, sir. And you went for post-tax? Yes, sir. Well, there. And let me let me give you a ride. 

And I was persons on crutches. This person's in a full length knee brace. So this is the knee immobilizer. So it goes through the ankle all the way up the thigh. So your leg is stuck in a straight out position. So the colonel was in their vehicle and they were seen across the leg was up and all totally out of protocol. 

Yeah, it was an officer. This was an enlisted person. Totally, you know, totally justified by the military rules and regulations. We left them there. Just whatever man that he was like was, you know, he humble enough to give someone a ride because he saw someone, one of his people, someone under his command who needed a hand. And he did this. But there were other examples. I was really fortunate to have him as our first battalion commander. 

This is what we're called to do. This is what we're supposed to be humble and don't make a deal out of yourself that will come from God. God will. God will reward us. And we go through here and we look at this. It says that at the end, God is highly exalted. You not just exalted Him, but highly exalted him and bestowed on him. The name is above every name. So the name of Jesus, every name should bow and heaven on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father. 

That is our example. We do what is needs to be done. Done. Don't make a deal out of it for yourself. Don't put make yourself better than others. 

I'm too high a rank to do this. We've all run through that. We don't need. What we need are those, no matter who they are, where they are, to be the ones that will reach out and touch another in the way that they need to be touched. And we do this not for the glory for ourselves. We do not promote ourselves. We let God do that. God will was shown with Jesus where He gave him the name that is, above all name. Amen.