Author: Jeff Englund

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Philippians 2:9b – God’s Rose

A wild red rose bush grows at the base of a cross. (Grok)

[Therefore God exalted him to the highest place]

    and gave him the name that is above every name…

Summary: Paul’s words about Jesus’ name give us a reason to pause and think about why names have meaning and how Jesus’ name reflects who he is.

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose

By any other name would smell as sweet.”

— Romeo and Juliet, Act II, Scene II

As a kid, I sometimes wondered,“How do we get names and why are some more important than others?” 

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Philippians 2:8c – Life and Death

Jesus and the cross (Grok)

… even death on a cross!

Summary: The challenge of understanding who Jesus is continues to haunt us as we read more of Paul’s words. It is one thing to jump on a grenade to save your friends; it is entirely something else to allow yourself to be flayed alive and hung on a wooden cross until dead.   

In our last meditation, “Our Selfless God,” we stumbled across what the Bible calls the “stumbling stone.”* In our version of the “stumbling stone,” we realized: 

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Philippians 2:8a – Two Things

A picture of a leaf with two drops of water on it (Pixabay)

And being found in appearance as a man…

Summary: Paul is walking us through what it means to think like Jesus. His understanding of the Lord is reflected in the clarity of his description of what sets Jesus apart.  

Paul is in the middle of describing the mindset of Jesus Christ. 

Whatever you might think of Jesus, it seems obvious he was in a pickle. Here he was, the one through whom all things were made (John 1:3), reduced to being a social outcast in his own creation. (His disciple, Nathanael, when he found out Jesus was from Nazareth, said: “Can anything good come from there?” — John 1:46). 

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Philippians 2:7b – The Nature of a Servant

Jesus kneeling in prayer. (Grok)

… by taking the very nature of a servant,

Summary: This passage provides a critical description of Jesus’ character. Understanding Jesus requires that we try to understand what it means to have the “nature of a servant.”   

To avoid using his “equality with God” as an advantage, Jesus did things that run counter to our natural instincts for self-preservation. One of those things was “taking the very nature of a servant.” 

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Philippians 2:6b – Fire and Ice

A picture of the earth floating in space. Half is on fire and half is covered in ice. (Grok)

[Jesus]… did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;

Summary: The nature of Jesus comes into focus in this passage. Understanding who Jesus is helps us understand how he wants us to live.   

Who, exactly, is Jesus? 

If you have read the Bible, or even if you have just heard about him from others, you probably know he is the “Messiah” (Matthew 16:16), the “Son of God” (Mark 1:1).

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Philippians 2:6a – Punch and Jesus

Punch and Judy puppet show cartoon (Grok)

Who, being in very nature God…

Summary: Understanding the nature of God is a tall order. Perhaps the best we can do is to understand that we are not God and then learn to recognize who God is.   

Imagine for a moment that you are a puppet. (You can be any kind of a puppet you would like to be!) You live in a world populated by puppets of all different types. Some are nice, others are mean. You know the world we live in. 

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