The Way Of The Cross Series

When concert artists do a concert, they usually present a rider, which spells out what they expect from their hosts. Beyonce has such a rider, and several years ago (2013), The Daily Star obtained a copy of her rider. It includes the following demands:

• All crew members must wear 100 percent cotton clothing.

• Alkaline water must be chilled to 21 degrees and served with $900 titanium straws.

• Bathrooms must have new toilet seats and red toilet paper at every venue.

• Hand-carved ice balls should be made after each show to cool her throat. &

• The host must provide newly refurbished, luxury dressing rooms with enough space that's typically used to accommodate entire sports teams (“Beyonce’s ‘Diva’ Demand Revealed in Alleged Tour Rider,” Huffington Post, May 2, 2013; www. PreachingToday.com).

Beyonce wants to enjoy the privileges of her superstar status. She is very popular, so she demands and gets what she wants.

In sharp contrast, when Jesus came to earth, He demanded nothing. If you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to Philippians 2, Philippians 2, where we have Jesus’ “rider” (so-to-speak) for coming to this earth.

Philippians 2:5-7 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped [or held onto], but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men (ESV).

Jesus, who is God Himself, the King of the Universe, did not hang onto the privilege or prestige of that position. Instead, He let it all go. He emptied Himself, verse 7 says. In other words, the King became a servant!

Now, don’t get me wrong. Jesus did NOT cease to be God when He became a man. No! He simply ceased to enjoy the privileges of that position. He was still omnipotent: all powerful – but He chose to live in dependence upon the Father. He was still omnipresent: everywhere present at the same time – but He chose to dwell in a single body. He was still omniscient: all knowing – but He chose to know only what the Father revealed to Him. Jesus was still Lord, but He chose to become a servant.

Josephus, the 1st Century Jewish Historian, talks about a king who took off his kingly robes and put on the clothes of a beggar to live among his people (Antiquities 10,11). Well, that’s exactly what Jesus did when He became a man. He took off His Kingly robes and put on the rags of a beggar. He made Himself nothing in this world’s eyes.

In his best-selling book, The Jesus I Never Knew, Philip Yancey describes a London auditorium, where he saw the royal box in which the kings and queens of England sat. There, he caught a glimpse of the… way rulers stride through the world: with bodyguards, a trumpet fanfare, and a flourish of bright clothes and flashing jewelry.

At the time, Queen Elizabeth II had recently visited the United States, and reporters delighted in spelling out the logistics involved: her four thousand pounds of luggage included two outfits for every occasion, a mourning outfit in case someone died, forty pints of plasma, and white kid-leather toilet seat covers. She brought along her own hairdresser, two valets, and a host of other attendants. A brief visit of royalty to a foreign country can easily cost twenty million dollars.

In meek contrast, God’s visit to earth took place in an animal shelter with no attendants present and nowhere to lay the newborn king but a feed trough. Indeed, the event that divided history, and even our calendars, into two parts may have had more animal than human witnesses. A mule could have stepped on him (Philip Yancey, The Jesus I Never Knew, Zondervan, 1995; www. PreachingnToday.com).

Jesus did not demand the trappings of His exalted position when He came to this earth. Instead, He emptied Himself. He let it all go!

And He made Himself low. He humbled Himself to the lowest position a man could go.

Philippians 2:8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross (ESV).

Jesus hung naked on a cross, where He died a horrible death. This was a punishment reserved for the worst of criminals, among the lowest of the low, in the scum of humanity.

In September of 1940, Witold Pilecki, a Polish army captain, did the unthinkable and snuck into Auschwitz. Pilecki knew that something was terribly wrong with the concentration camp and as a committed Christian he couldn't sit by and watch. He wanted to get information on the horrors of Auschwitz, but he knew he could only do that from the inside.