Quickening

A Reflection on the Second Reading for April 10th, 2022:
Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion

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Philippians
2.6-11

Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death — even death on a cross.

Therefore God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
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I want to ask you something, Jesus.  


    equality with God

    emptied himself

    human likeness

    cross

    exalted

    above every 

    Jesus Christ is Lord


There is a pivot point in St. Paul’s poem. Your death on a cross. He claims this as the reason for the name the Father gives You that is above every other. What name did Your Father give You as He brought You out of the grave?  

You already had the name Jesus; God gave it to You through St. Joseph, who heard it from an angel.

St. Peter had already named You Christ — Messiah — when You asked him to give his opinion on who it was he was looking in the eye.  

St. Martha had already called You Lord when asking You to tell Mary to get up off the floor and lend a hand. You seem to have had these names already.  

Coming through the process St. Paul describes — from high to low to lower to lowest seems to have changed something, deepened something in Your name. The Love that lived in obedience to death so that we might be reborn, has changed something. As the Father lifts the Son from the grave, all the names You bore are quickened and brought to life.   

Before the cross the name Jesus — Jehovah Saves — was a promise. After the cross, in the first breath of Your resurrection, the name Jesus becomes a living truth. 

Before the cross the name Christ — Anointed One — was a prediction. After the cross, in the tearing of the curtain that separated the world from the Holy of Holies, the very Presence of God, the name Christ becomes a living sword.

Before the cross the name Lord — Kyrie — was used in petition. After the cross the name Lord becomes a declaration that brings us to our knees — brings everything to its knees.

In Your losing everything for us, Your Father has ignited Your names.  

Can I follow You in this? This mountain of a poem St. Paul sent to Philippi bore on its shoulders a call to be like You.  

“Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus …” (Philippians 2:5)
“Therefore, my beloved … work out your own salvation with fear and trembling …” (Philippians 2:12)

Can I surrender? Am I able? What will quicken in my name when I desire someone else’s good more than my own and act on it? Will You help me?

“… for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” (Philippians 2:13)

The wonder of it all, Lord Jesus Christ, is that You do. You ask me to work it out, and then I find You here with me already doing the heavy lifting. You, with the name above every name. Here. With. Me. Helping me with the ability to follow. Helping me even with the desire to follow in the first place.

I am Yours.
To the glory of God the Father.
Amen.




​Noreen Smith
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