Lent - Day 22 (March 14)

Larger Catechism – Day 22 of Lent

Question 46:  How was Christ humiliated?

Answer:  For our sakes, Christ emptied himself of his own glory and took on the form of a servant, and so was humiliated in all the poor circumstances involving his conception and birth, life on earth, death, and after his death until he was resurrected.

One difficult thing about getting old is needing someone do take care of you, or do things for you. 

It can be embarrassing to have someone bathe you, dry you with a towel, feed you, etc.  People remember doing all of these things for themselves and then you suddenly need someone to care for them because they can no longer do these tasks for yourself.

On a similar note, many years ago an eye doctor moved to this country. He wasn’t really a “doctor.”  In his country the eye doctor was trained through something like an apprentice program.  He made and sold eye glasses.  He would have been viewed highly in his country.  When he moved to this country he could no longer check a person’s eye sight or make glasses.  Our country did not recognize his training and experience.  If my memory serves me correctly he had to work as a janitor in our country.  Quite a step down on the society ladder.

I cannot even imagine what it would have been like for Jesus to give up all of his own glory to take on the form of a human.  As John’s gospel puts it, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”  The one who spoke all of creation into being needed someone to feed him and change his diaper.  The one who was in the presence of the Father from all eternity could not enter into the holy of hollies—because he was not the high priest.  The one who was beyond time became bound by time.

Merriam-Webster defines humiliate as “to reduce to a lower position in one’s own eyes or others’ eyes.”  Did Jesus take on a “lower position”?  Absolutely.  Was Jesus humiliated by giving up his station in heaven and becoming a person?  Absolutely.  Why did he take on that lower position?  Answer:  so that he could become the mediator of God’s grace so that we could be saved.

Jesus calls us to become servants:  servants to God and servants to other people.  Can that call to servanthood be humiliating?  Absolutely.  Are we willing to be humiliated for the cause of Christ?  That is a question that only each of us can answer—not with words but with actions. 

(Note:  There will be no blog post tomorrow.  Sunday is a day for worshiping the risen Savior.  Sunday is not one of the 40 days of Lent.)