Oh, the Humanity!

“And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:8).

“Oh, the humanity!” Herbert Morrison shouted these words into his radio microphone as the Hindenburg crashed and burned on May 6, 1937. He struggled to find the words to describe the disaster which killed 37 people in Elmhurst, NY. From his prison cell in Rome, Paul uses his pent to paint a picture of the earthly life and death of Jesus of Nazareth. The Rabbi/Carpenter from Galilee sure looked like every other person. Yet there was something VERY different about Him. He was incredibly humble. He was obedient to His Father. And He paid the price for that obedience with the most humiliating form of execution the world has ever known. Oh, the humanity!

The Apostle Paul is writing to his friends in Philippi. Despite being behind bars, you can’t wipe the smile off his face. He’s stoked about what God is doing in and through the goofy little church he planted back in Macedonia. He has incredible joy in the joint! In the middle of his excitement, Paul breaks out into song. Yeah, you read that right. A song. A boatload of really smart folks believe Philippians 2:6-11 are the lyrics to a popular worship song in the early church. It’s a modern day preacher quoting a line from “The Stand” in his message. Since Hillsong United wasn’t even a gleam in anyone’s eye, the apostle drops these lyrics to make his point. 

In the previous verses, Paul pulls back the curtains of heaven and gives us a picture of what folks call the preincarnate Christ (Phil 2:6-7). We learn that the Second Person of the Trinity has been around forever. The Son of God is seriously old school. Before anyone on earth ever laid eyes on Him, He was in heaven, just as much God as His Dad and the Spirit. But there was a crisis in God’s Creation. We rebelled. We broke His perfection. Something had to be done. Somebody had to come to the rescue. That Someone is our Savior Jesus. He dropped all the rights and privileges of being Almighty God and came to serve and save us. That’s what happened in eternity before Christ jumped into the river of time in a place called Palestine.

Here Paul uses one line of lyrics to sum up Jesus’ earthly life. “And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (v8). One sentence to sum up a sinless, selfless life of sacrifice. If you squint really hard, you can see teenage girl named Mary and her husband Joe the Carpenter giving birth to their first Child in a cave behind the Motel 6. He would grow up to be known as Jesus. Humble. Obedient to His heavenly Dad. But eventually crucified as criminal. If you’re looking for a thumbnail summary of Christ’s life on earth, you’ve found it here in verse 8. Oh, the humanity!

The first thing we see about the Son of God is He was “found in human form” (v8). Paul uses a Greek word (Gr. schema) that means outward appearance. The ESV translators have already talked about Jesus in the “form of God” (Phil 2:8) and “taking the form of a servant” (Phil 2:7). But this is a different term that describes what can be known about a person by just looking at them. At first glance, you’d think Joe’s Son is just like every other young Jewish man in Israel at the time. Can we stuff a sock in the picture of Jesus as with blonde hair and blue eyes in the middle of a brown world? There’s absolutely no basis to believe He looked any different than any other Jewish guy at the time. He was “found in human form” (v8). That would be Middle Eastern form. Jewish form. Oh, the humanity!

Jesus may have looked like every other man but He was so much more. “He humbled Himself” (v8). The original language (Gr. tapeino’o) describes how the Second Person of the Trinity readily and willingly got low. Nobody forced Him. Nobody tricked Him. He didn’t draw the short straw. He WANTED the assignment to come to our rescue. Paul’s point is that the One who is 100% God has done something miraculous. He’s now become 100% Man at the same time. The math makes my head hurt. The truth makes my heart soft. Picture the one and only Son of God leaving the heavenly palace and making a swan dive into the dumpster fire of our sin and rebellion here on Earth. It’s almost impossible to wrap our minds around what He left to where He went. Christ willingly left a perfect paradise to walk with us here in our broken world. To save us, He became one of us. “He humbled Himself” (v8). Oh, the humanity!

Jesus added humanity to His divinity in order to live for you and me. The apostle talks about how our Savior was “obedient” (v8). The Greek word here is hupekoos, which means to listen for and respond to a command when called. Picture a butler waiting for the knock at the door. The Son is happily obedient to His Father. As a result, He lives the life of obedience and sinless perfection that you and I couldn’t. Jesus is turning around all the crap that started in Eden when Adam bought the lie of a satanic snake. “For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one Man’s obedience the many will be made righteous” (Rom 5:19). But His obedience didn’t stop there. Jesus was “obedient to the point of death” (v8). He died the death for our sin that we should have died. In the hours before His own murder, the Lord pleaded with His Dad. “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will” (Mt 26:39). If there’s no other way, He’s ready and willing. There was one and only one way. And that road ran right to Skull Hill. Oh, the humanity!

Jesus added humanity to His divinity in order to die for you and me. The radical Rabbi/Carpenter died the most humiliating death our planet has ever seen, “death on a cross” (v8). The Romans didn’t invent crucifixion but they certainly perfected it. It was horribly painful. It’s where we get our word “excruciating.” It was hours if not days of torture. Bloody. Suffocating. If that’s not bad enough, it was meant to embarrass and shame the victim. Romans saved this form of execution for the worst of the worst. Rebels. Revolutionaries. Terrorists. It was a very public deterrent to anyone who got the bright idea of trying to overthrow the empire. One look at the dead Messiah from Galilee would certainly send a chill up the spine. 

But the Bible doesn’t stop after Philippians 2:8. Sunday’s coming. Something crazy is about to happen. Somebody is about to come walking out of the graveyard. Oh, the humanity!