Johannine Hours           Philippians 2:1-11            December 1997
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en
199712
December 1997
Philippians 2,1-11
By means of an ancient Christian hymn, Saint Paul shows how a life
of faith is rooted in the behaviour of Christ himself. The hymn
starts from the question "What does it mean to be of divine status?"
And the astonishing answer shows how different the living God is
from our human ideas concerning the deity. Being God does not mean
at all trying to hold on to the first place, but rather lowering
oneself as far as possible out of love. The incarnation and the
atrocious death of Christ are thus explained as the "logical"
consequence--a divine logic, unsettling for us--of his identity as
the Son of God.

And to show us that this is in fact God's logic and not a mere
failure or misunderstanding, God raises up Christ to the highest
place in the universe and proclaims his true identity: he is the
Kyrios, the Lord, the one who reigns in God's name. The resurrection
and the ascension reveal the meaning of Christ's life and death and
show their consequences for the whole of creation. Every creature
can henceforth enter into the current of this divine logic which has
now become manifest at the heart of the world.

From now on, there can be no room in the community of Christ's
disciples for personal ambition, for running after prestige or
honours. On the contrary, the rule of life for believers is mutual
submission (cf. Eph 5,21). When they act this way in the image of
Christ, the faithful see the bonds of communion between them become
more and more intimate and intense.
What keeps the Christian community from being one in outlook and
purpose? How can we be creators of communion in it?
What does this hymn tell us about the basis and the true meaning of
Christian humility?


E-mail: community@taize.fr 


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