Everest to Mariana

⁵ Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, ⁶ who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, ⁷ but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. ⁸ And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. ⁹ Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, ¹⁰ so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹ and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Passage

Philippians 2:5-11 - He Humbled Himself 

Conditions

Christmas morning. Some protesting about the ordering of the morning. Where the breakfast should go, where family worship should go, when the presents should be opened. It would have been possible to delay family worship and open presents immediately. But better to gently direct everyone to the reason for the season, the priority of the day, and open the Bible in thanksgiving and prayer first. 

Time

All the time in the world. 

Teaching

No prep and I was looking at the passage sensing the challenge of engaging the children with the passage only with presents on everyone’s mind. Just then, praise the Lord, I saw in the passage ‘the longest journey.’ So we wondered for a bit, ‘What do you think is the longest journey ever taken?’ A quick trip to Chat GPT gave us some interesting candidates. We talked about Mount Everest, the Silk Road, and Good Hope. It was a strong reminder that a help of some kind, a story, a puzzle, a thought-provoking question, goes a long way with the children at this age, especially before a passage of propositions/argument. 

We then read the passage and I invited the children to make connections between it and our discussion about the longest journey. I read again the key phrases of the passage and eyes began lighting up. Jesus had made the longest journey ever, from the glory of heaven to the humiliation of death on a cross. 

Why would someone do this? In order to forgive and save us. Yes, but why do that? Love. The long journeys of the world have been made for many reasons. Exploration, trade, conquest. No journey on this scale has been made for love. 

The conversation turned us into a fruitful area, the difference between distance and status. Someone had said ‘Jesus came from the top of Mount Everest to the bottom of the Mariana Trench. What a beautiful description. It highlighted the distance travelled. From all the way up there to all the way down here. But there’s more to it than distance. It was not just heaven to earth, but glory to humiliation. 

I conjured up a tale about a king. This king ruled in a city whose people had grown cold to the needs of the poor. Word had come to the king of a poor farmer who many years ago had served the city well but in recent years had become weak and frail because of age and isolation. The king sent out an exhortation to his people to travel to the countryside and tend to the old farmer. But no one answered the call. 

When the king had determined that no one would do what ought to be done, in the quiet of a winter afternoon he removed his crown, laid aside his royal robes, dressed in ordinary garments, and slipped out of the castle in the direction of the old farmer’s shack. The king passed unnoticed through the stone streets where the markets were. He walked through the estate on the edge of the city. Further on he came to the poor village on the outskirts of the city, and he kept walking. After many hours walking he came to a valley with a small and run down shack in it. 

A skinny donkey was tied up outside, and there was also a single cow grazing nearby. The animals had not been fed well or cared for because the old farmer was too ill to tend to them or travel to the village for supplies. Neither was the shack in good condition because the old farmer’s body had begun to betray him. 

When the king arrived he untied the donkey and walked it to the nearby village and loaded it up with food, water, and wine. When he arrived back he presented these to the old farmer who couldn’t believe the generosity of the king (he was unaware who the king was, of course). He then went outside to the cow who had not been milked for days. There in the valley the crownless king knelt down in the mud, reached under and milked the old farmer's cow. The king and the farmer enjoyed the milk and some fresh bread together for supper. 

The king had come a long way. A very long way. 

Song

Angels We Have Heard on High