If our reading from Philippians today sounded familiar, it may be because you heard it a few months ago on Palm Sunday. In fact, the lectionary assigns it for reading on Palm Sunday every year. It’s always been seen as an appropriate introduction to Passion Week, when we enter into the mystery of the death and resurrection of the Son of God. Coming fully into the human condition, the one who was in the very form of God laid aside the privileges and powers of deity and took the form of a slave. And he died, not a noble and dignified death, but one that was reserved for the lowest of people. “Lay the cross on the slave,” the Roman judge would order, and the condemned person would carry the heavy crossbar to the place of execution.

Renouncing divine privilege

            The Son of God “emptied himself,” Paul says. Theologians have debated exactly what that meant in terms of God’s attributes and powers, but the basic meaning is clear: For the time of his earthly life he renounced the use of divine privileges. He lived a truly human life and was not simply God wearing a human disguise. We can see how he limits his options even on a purely human level. Jesus could have avoided the cross. At the Last Supper he could have said to his disciples, “It’s gotten too hot for me here in Jerusalem. We’re getting out of here.” Instead of turning aside to Gethsemane he could have just kept going, and by morning he would have been far away from Calvary.

            But he didn’t. “He humbled h

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