Grace and Truth

The economic crash of 2008 was essentially a spiritual problem of unregulated greed and uncontrolled selfishness—the dark side of free market enterprise. The antidote to the poison of greed is generosity, says Paul in his letter to the Christians of Philippi caught in a downward spiral of “selfish ambition or vain conceit” (Philippians 2:3). Paul challenges the Christians to get into the mind of Jesus, an incredibly generous Jesus.

Jesus was generous in coming to live with us “in human likeness” (Philippians 2:7). It’s hard for me to imagine moving from my comfortable home in Newton, Kan., to a Muslim village in northern Africa, living in a one-room, mud-plastered house with a dirt floor and cooking over an open fire. I’d feel I had given up a lot to be with people who weren’t even interested in the message I had. Our Mennonite mission workers have done that. That’s what Jesus did, but at an even more intense level.

Jesus gave up the comforts and joys of triune eternal companionship to enter into the messiness of living with sinful, broken humanity—the hypocrisy, violence, sickness and greed. Jesus came to share a new vision for living with humility, compassion and mercy.

Jesus demonstrated his generosity by getting involved in making things right here on earth. Wherever Jesus encountered human need, people received more than they hoped for. The disabled paraplegic received restored mobility and a relationship with God. The hemorrhaging woman was healed in body and restored to dignity in community. Jesus did more than expected. When he put on a feast of fish and chips, there were seven donkey-cargo baskets of leftovers. Why so much? At another meal, Jesus not only acted as Passover host but took the role of household slave and washed the disciples’ dirty feet.

Philippians 2:7 says Jesus took “the very nature of a servant.” Slaves were common in Jesus’ day. They cleaned up the messes free people made. Jesus cleaned up, set things right in the house of God. In Jerusalem, Jesus went to the center of religious power and staged a symbolic, nonviolent protest in the temple against the merchants using the prayer area for Gentiles as an open air market. Jesus said, “My house shall be a house of prayer; but you have made it a den of robbers” (Luke 19:45-46). What would Jesus say to Wall Street?

Jesus generously risked his life for the sake of God’s kingdom of justice and righteousness on earth as it is in heaven. He risked his life for God’s redeeming work in the world in obedience to God’s call on his life. The consequence of boldly confronting evil was “death on a cross.”

Let’s not confuse Jesus’ death with the ultimate sacrifice language used in American civil religion. Soldiers die risking their lives for freedom, comrades and the honor of their nation. I respect their courage and sacrifice. But their mission is not God’s, and their methods are not God’s. Soldiers die trying to kill enemy combatants. Jesus died because he refused violent self-protection. He was committed to overcoming evil with generosity, hatred with love, absorbing violence in a non-resistant martyr’s death on a cross.

Because Jesus was obedient to the Father and was willing to die while being true to God’s way, Jesus’ death became the pivotal saving event for all humanity for all of history.

Jesus lived generosity in his incarnation, his ministry and his death. Paul says, Let this generosity of Jesus soak into your mind and permeate your worldview. Let it transform your selfish and greedy behavior. Be generous like Jesus was generous (Philippians 2:1-11).

Clarence Rempel is pastor of First Mennonite Church in Newton, Kan.