We hear the second reading from St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians each year during our Palm Sunday liturgy, so it probably sounds very familiar to us. It is probably one of the most well-known passages from St Paul’s letters. Biblical scholars believe that Paul adapted these words from an ancient hymn in the early Church. Paul makes a lot of contrasts in this passage, stating that Jesus was divine, but he took on human likeness; that those both in heaven and on earth are to bend their knee to honor Jesus; and in the humiliation that Jesus suffered in his death on the cross, he gained for us victory over sin, and through this humiliation, he has earned our exaltation. Contrasts are such a big part of our faith. The cross is always an essential part of the story of Jesus, just as his resurrection is. We cannot have one without the other. Yes, we celebrate our salvation and our victory over sin, but without Christ’s journey to the cross and without his death for our sins, there is no resurrection and no eternal life. These contrasts are part of our baptism in Christ as well, as we die with Christ in the waters of baptism, and then we rise with Christ to new life in those same waters.
May the words of St Paul touch our hearts today and help us to understand the reality of Christ in which we place our trust and our hope.
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