The Servant King – Humility’s Triumph
It's our last week of Lent, and it's Holy Week. I am going to make use of Charles Wesley's hymn lyrics as we walk with Jesus to the cross on Good Friday and then celebrate the Resurrection on Sunday.
Let's start with words from Wesley's great hymn And Can It Be:
"He left His Father's throne above,
So free, so infinite His grace;
Emptied Himself of all but love,
And bled for Adam's helpless race."
The Profound Humility of Christ
Isn't this wonderful? That Jesus would humble Himself this way? If you think of God coming to earth, the picture in your mind is probably one of power and prestige and pomp. But Jesus left the throne of heaven and came to earth as a servant.
In fact Paul captures this in his wonderful words in Philippians 2:6-7 where he talks about Jesus "who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to His own advantage; rather, He made Himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant."
He made Himself nothing, even though He had been reigning on the throne with God the Father from the beginning. I wonder how many of us would be willing to make ourselves nothing and take on the very nature of a servant? Or are we too proud of our status, our position, to allow ourselves to stoop down and serve?
Emptied of All But Love
I love how Wesley says that Jesus emptied Himself of all but love. What a line. Jesus was the embodiment of love, and as He died on that cross His love was on full display. He humbled Himself and died that death – a humiliating, embarrassing death – but He did it in love.
Are you willing to be humiliated, or embarrassed, if it means you can show something of the love of God? Perhaps we often hold back on expressing or sharing our faith, out of embarrassment. We don't want people to think less of us.
Jesus left the throne of heaven, the most glorious and highly exalted position, and died an embarrassing death to save the world.
Let's serve like He served. Let's love like He loved. Let's humble ourselves like He humbled Himself.
Then people all around will begin to see Him in us.
