by Naomi Moon

See the High in the Low

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking this SoundCloud link.

“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, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, 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.”

Philippians 2:5-11 English Standard Version

This passage is full of vivid imagery. I think of Christ, beaten and naked on the cross, head bowed under the weight of his pain and our sin. This is juxtaposed with Christ being highly exalted, head lifted high in the full glory of his resurrection and the power of his divinity. It is easy to associate ourselves with the broken image of Christ; we too often feel beaten by the weight of our pain and sin, to the point where we cannot even hold our heads up. 

It was difficult to find an image for this text because we often don’t capture the moments of complete despair. Christ, God made flesh, stood in our place in this state of humiliation. He paid the price of death to win victory for us over sin, death, and the devil. We now hold our heads low out of reverence for the true Son of God, not out of fear or pain. I picked a photo of God’s majestic creation, where we often feel that we bow low in comparison to these mountains. 

In Christ, we hope. In Him, we trust that the world will be restored, everything will be made new, and pain will be no more. Every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.  

Copyright Family of Christ Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado