What Would Jesus Ride?

4.5.20 Philippians 2:5-8

Indeed, let this attitude be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Though he was by nature God, he did not consider equality with God as a prize to be displayed, but he emptied himself by taking the nature of a servant. When he was born in human likeness, and his appearance was like that of any other man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross.

What kind of a car do you drive? I have a 2015 Kia Soul, a small little stick shift. It was on sale and it has decent gas mileage and good reviews. My wife has a 2003 Yukon. It is built for size and can haul lots of groceries or our entire family. I remember a pastor in Kansas had a BMW. I thought it was a bit flashy for a pastor to be driving, but to each his own. I’ve been to Silver Lake where people put thousands of dollars into their toys that can go over the sand hills at breakneck speed. Some pick a ride for power, others for prestige, and others for practicality.

WWJR? What Would Jesus Ride?

In the Old Testament God would ride into camp on a cloud. He landed on Mt. Sinai in a pillar of fire and lightning. That’s what you’d expect: a powerful God riding in on power. Here comes the King!

What about Jesus? In the upper room after the resurrection He just appeared out of nowhere. You can do that when you’re God. Usually He walked, and sometimes He walked in style, like on the Sea of Galilee in the midst of a storm. But in today’s text, He picked a donkey. An amazing thing when you think about who Jesus is: in very nature God: equal with God: God in the flesh. But it’s a picture of humility. A donkey was a burden bearer. They can only carry so much. Jesus came to bear much more. He came to bear the sins of the world.

It’s kind of interesting how Jesus did this. The only way He could BEAR our sins was if He EMPTIED Himself. Usually you think of the POWER you need when you are asked to carry something heavy. Jesus had to do the opposite in order to carry our sins. Paul told the Philippians that Jesus, “emptied himself by taking the nature of a servant.” It wasn’t that He didn’t have any power. He just chose not to USE it by becoming a SERVANT.

The word for servant in the Greek is doulos. It also can be translated as “slave.” The first meaning in the dictionary is “pertaining to a state of being completely controlled by someone or something.” So Jesus “became obedient.” Think about what that means. Jesus didn’t have to be obedient to anyone or anything as God. He had complete control over everyone and everything. He showed it over the wind and the waves and the demons. But He decided NOT to show that power in many other ways. He decided to become obedient. He decided to become a slave.

Nobody chooses such a vocation. “What do you want to be when you grow up Johnny?” “I want to be a slave!” The disciples were constantly arguing about who would be the greatest in the kingdom of God: who would sit at the right and who would be at the left. They were looking forward to the power they would have in the coming kingdom. They didn’t think in terms of service. We don’t either. By nature we hate that word “obey.” We only use it for dogs who go to “obedience” school.

I was recently on the Amtrak to Wisconsin. I had the seat in front of me open, so I put my feet up and stretched out. A lady who worked there lit into me about having my feet up there and told me to get them down. I wasn’t too thrilled with her bossing me around in such an angry fashion, but I apologized and got them down. (Although afterwards she nicely told me I could take my shoes off and put my feet up there.) I don’t know any of us who likes being put in a role where people can boss us around and tell us what to do. It’s against our nature.

Yet God’s Word talks a lot about submission and authority.

Romans 13:1 “Everyone must submit to the governing authorities. For no authority exists except by God, and the authorities that do exist have been established by God.”

Colossians 3:18-20 says, “Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them. Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.”