“Take a Knee” - A Palm Sunday Reflection from Rev. Brian Daly

Link to Scripture: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians%202%3A5-11&version=NRSVUE 

I grew up in the Roman Catholic tradition. I attended Catholic schools from first grade through high school. I was an altar boy in elementary school. That was considered a privileged position to serve as an assistant to the priest during the mass. Like the priests, we also wore robes. That’s heady stuff for an 11- or 12-year-old. I especially remember serving as an altar boy at a confirmation service led by the archbishop of the diocese. It was a big deal. We were given special training specific to that service. We were told that if the archbishop were to walk in front of us, we were to take a knee…to genuflect before him. We were also told that if we were privileged enough to have him hold his hand in front of us, we were to kiss his ring. I was no theologian at 11 years old, but something about that didn’t sit well with me. And, frankly, it still doesn’t. It’s hard to imagine Jesus wearing a ring, let alone having those he served genuflect before him and kiss it. And by the way, we Protestants are not above such things. We like to elevate our clergy, too. And frankly, most of us who are clergy like to be elevated!

But then there’s Jesus and this early Christian hymn that celebrates his humility. Humility wasn’t really celebrated by the Greeks or Romans. Honor is what was valued highly…and praise always flowed from the lesser to the greater in what was a very stratified and hierarchical society. Therefore, one never exercised humility before someone deemed equal or lesser than you. It might even have been considered morally suspect. And a deity, especially, had expansive privileges, powers, prerogatives, status, and standing. That is, until Jesus. In status-conscious Philippi no less, Paul reminds the church that this deity was different. Not only did he “empty himself” of his status and privilege to become one of us, but he became the ultimate servant, demonstrating self-sacrifice even unto death.

All of that would have been hard enough to fathom, let alone Paul’s admonition to “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.” It makes me think he must have been directing this admonition to people of status and means…people with a self to empty. That must have been a challenging word. Frankly, it still is. It’s a lot easier to believe in Jesus than to follow him. But might it also have been a life-giving word? Is it possible that when we empty ourselves, we can be filled? That is a question worth pondering as we approach Holy Week. Power, wealth, status, and privilege are still highly valued. Humility is still misunderstood and devalued. But it is still the way of Jesus. Is it still the way of those who claim to follow him? 

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Rev. Brian Daly is a DSF/CST graduate (M.Div./1991). He has remained in the Pacific Southwest Region of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) ever since, serving as the pastor of the Pacific Beach Christian Church in San Diego, CA for over 31 years.