Bishop Barron preaches on the Philippians 2 hymn of Christ's self-emptying love
A Palm Sunday sermon by Bishop Barron on the ancient Philippians 2 hymn, contrasting the hubris of Adam with the humility of God in Christ.
Summary
Bishop Barron delivers a Sunday sermon focused on the second chapter of Paul's letter to the Philippians, which he describes as one of the master texts of the New Testament. He argues that the passage — likely one of the oldest liturgical texts in Christianity, possibly dating to the late 30s AD — contains the entire doctrinal and poetic heart of the faith. The central argument is that the fall of humanity consisted in Adam grasping at equality with God, and that God's answer to that hubris was the radical humility of the Incarnation: Christ emptying himself of divinity, descending all the way to death on a cross, so as to bring divine grace to every depth of human degradation. Bishop Barron concludes that the Resurrection is the return journey — Christ bringing all of redeemed humanity back to the Father, provided they freely accept his love.
Key Takeaways
FULL TRANSCRIPT
Introduction: The Church at Philippi and the Importance of Philippians 2
Bishop Barron: Peace be with you, friends. All the readings for this weekend are terrific. But whenever I have the opportunity to preach on our second reading, I take it, because it's one of the really master texts in the New Testament. I'm talking about this passage from the second chapter of Paul's letter to the Philippians. A very short text — I could recommend that at some point you get out your Bibles, find Philippians, and find chapter 2, and you'll find the text we're looking at today. It is very ancient, very substantive, because in some ways it lays out the whole of Christianity, and it is of great poetic value. So I want to talk about it.
But first, look at the church in Philippi. It's a very important church. Paul, of course — you know Jerusalem, then going to Damascus — we hear he went to Arabia, he went home to Tarsus for a time, and then finally begins to preach the Christian gospel mostly throughout Asia Minor. But then at a key moment — and he said it was a person who appeared in a dream to him and said, "Come to Macedonia" — Paul crosses over from Asia Minor into Europe, into Macedonia, or northern Greece. No historian would notice that moment, but it was of extraordinary significance when Paul the Apostle brought the Christian faith for the first time to Europe. And the first church he establishes, up in the north, is in Philippi.
Almost everybody listening to me right now — not exclusively, because Christianity did move from the Holy Land eastward; you have, for example, St. Thomas going to India and throughout the Middle East — but most of the people in the world today who are Christian are either European Christians or spiritual descendants of European Christians: all those Italians and Germans and Austrians and Hungarians and Poles and French and Spaniards and Portuguese and English and Irish who brought the faith all over the world. So trace it back. Where did European Christianity begin? It began in this little church in Philippi. And Paul had a deep affection for this church — it's very obvious in his letter, and it's kind of unique that way. He has great affection for the people here. Maybe at some level he intuited the importance of that church. Anyway, to them he writes this beautiful letter.
The Ancient Hymn and the Divinity of Christ
Here is the segment I want to focus on today. Listen: "Have the same attitude that is also in Christ Jesus." The Greek there is a little ambiguous — it has been rendered as "have the same mind in you that was in Christ," or here as "attitude." Be conformed unto Christ. Call that conversion. Call that "no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me." Whatever the translation, Paul wants us aligned to Christ.
Now, what does that look like? What does that alignment look like? And here's the part that's so powerful. Listen: "Who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave." There is an earthquake in those words. There is a turning upside down of the world.
Here's the first thing, everybody. This text is thought to be Paul's adaptation of an ancient hymn. He's writing this around the early years of the 50s of the first century — let's say twenty years after the death and resurrection. But if this is a hymn that was being used in Christian liturgies, and if it took, as indeed it did, a while for things to get around the ancient world, this hymn probably goes back certainly to the 40s of the first century, perhaps even the late 30s. In other words, it is probably one of the oldest texts we have — certainly the oldest liturgical text we have in Christianity. And what is affirmed at the very heart of it? The divinity of Jesus. "Though he was in the form of God, he didn't deem equality with God a thing to be grasped, but rather emptied himself."
Up and down the centuries, from ancient times through the whole history of the church until today, there are people who deny the divinity of Jesus. It was fashionable — at least it was; I think it's kind of passing — but it was in academic circles, let's say twenty or twenty-five years ago, very fashionable to say, "Oh no, the divinity of Jesus — that was invented by Constantine, or by some council hundreds of years later, and it's just in service of the imperial power moves of the ancient church." Give me a break. The earliest text we have, from the earliest stratum of the Christian tradition, is a clear affirmation of the divinity of Jesus. And of course that claim rings through all the gospels. But even prior to the gospels, in the earliest text we have, we find the divinity of Jesus. Even when Paul says at the beginning of his letters, "Greetings from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ" — mentioned as equals, God the Father and the Lord, Kyrios translating Adonai, the term used to describe God — bore me to death with this claim that the divinity of Jesus is some later invention. It's not. From the beginning, we see it.
The Contrast Between Adam and Christ
Now listen. Though he was divine, he did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness. Here's the thing, everybody, that I think we're meant to hear. Biblical people, as I've often said, don't lay things out in terms of syllogistic argument. They speak in narrative and imagery, and all good poetry is meant to have that kind of echoing, associative quality — you hear something that reminds you of something else.
So who else in the Bible is, so to speak, in the form of God? Well, go right back to the very beginning. Adam, made in the image and likeness of God. He's not divine, to be sure, but he is made in the image and likeness of God. And what does Adam do? He grasps at divinity. He does exactly what Jesus doesn't do. He grasped at equality with God. That's the whole point of eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The devil says, "Oh no, God is just jealous — he knows that you'll be like him if you eat from this tree." And so Adam grasps at divinity.
Here's the poetry, everybody, and it's the heart of Christianity. The fall of man — the fall of humanity — consists precisely in a grasping at equality with God. So what's the solution? God letting go of equality with God. God emptying himself of divinity so as to meet fallen humanity. If this really is a hymn that goes back to the very beginning, it's like they got it right away. They understood the essential element right away. The divine answer to the human hubris that resulted in the fall is the divine humility. Let me say that again. Human hubris is the problem — grasping at divinity. The solution: God's humility, emptying himself of divinity, becoming human. You get that, you get the whole poetry of Christianity. More than that, you get the doctrinal heart of Christianity.
The Downward Trajectory: Incarnation to the Cross
Now listen as Paul goes on. "Emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, found human in appearance, he humbled himself." So think of God the Son, co-equal with the Father — we say "God from God, light from light, true God from true God" — but he doesn't deem equality with God something to be held on to. Rather, he willingly empties himself in humility, taking on human form, human appearance, becoming obedient. He's coming down to human form. But now: "becoming obedient even unto death." He goes all the way down. His humility doesn't stop at simply becoming human and then reigning as some glorious emperor. No, no — it continues. The downward trajectory of the Incarnation continues down to death.
And then these words, which always strike me as extraordinarily powerful, because they knew about crosses. These people — the cross was not a vague symbol for them, not an abstraction. They saw people dying on crosses. So: "he became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross." They couldn't imagine a worse way to die. They couldn't imagine something more humiliating than that, lower than that. At the limit of physical suffering, but also stripped naked on this instrument of torture, exposed to public ridicule, his friends having abandoned him, his life having come to a disastrous end, every trajectory of his aspirations frustrated — all of it. It's all the negativity of humanity.
Though he was in the form of God, he didn't deem equality with God something to be grasped, but he emptied himself, took the form of a slave, and then obediently accepted even death — death on a cross. And as I say that, look — why am I wearing this symbol? I'm wearing this because of this text. What this text is describing is what I'm holding up as this beautiful religious symbol. The humility of God, even to the point of death on the cross. Why? So as to counteract the hubris of man expressed in grasping at divinity. That's Christianity. There is Christianity.
The Kenosis: Going All the Way Down
How does Jesus save us? By going all the way down. The self-emptying is not arbitrary. It's not just a display. He's going down, down, down, down to meet all forms of human degradation, all forms of human humiliation and pain, frustration, failure, sin. Doesn't Paul say he became sin on the cross? Down, down, down, down, all the way down to the point where on this cross he says, "My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?" That is the limit of — I'll use Paul's Greek here — his kenosis. That's the Greek for self-emptying.
Now, why? So as to bring from the heights the divine grace to every stop along the way, and bringing it all the way into God-forsakenness, into death itself.
The Exaltation and the Return to the Father
And you say, "All right, well, what did that accomplish?" Well, now listen as Paul goes on. "Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name above every other name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
Watch again. Having come all the way down, having brought the divine grace even to the furthest, darkest, and lowest places, he now in the Resurrection brings back to the Father all that he has gathered. Think of Jesus now as the great fisher of men. This is how he did it — by the downward trajectory of the Incarnation. He goes to the limits of God-forsakenness so as now, in the Resurrection, to return all of us sinners — if we but hang on. Not negating free will: you've got to hang on to the Lord, you've got to say, "All right, Lord, I'll accept." It's possible to reject even this acrobatic act of love. But having come all the way down, all he needs is for us to grasp onto him, to say, "Yes, Lord, I accept," and then he brings us back up to the Father.
They got this, everybody. They got this right away. They understood the dynamics of Christianity. If you want to understand them, Philippians chapter 2 — take a look at this great hymn of God's self-emptying love.
And God bless.