Thursday, April 05, 2012

Philip Yancey: Maundy Thursday Lenten Reflection


Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, 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 also 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. Philippians 2:4-11

When we suffer, we sometimes wish he had more power—“If I could only the power to do x, then it would all work out better.” The contemporary writer Philip Yancey gives a new insight into the relationship between power, love, and suffering.
Power, no matter how well-intentioned, tends to cause suffering. Love, being vulnerable, absorbs it. In a point of convergence on a hill called Calvary, God renounced the one for the sake of the other.
Today is Maundy Thursday, when we remember that Jesus washed the disciples' feet. The Lord of lords came as a servant.

Father, thank you for Jesus, who didn’t come with overwhelming power, but with vulnerable grace.

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