The Cross displays God's Humility

I was quite busy on Friday with my parents coming up and other stuff that perhaps I will blog about later when I feel more like it, so I didn't post this then. However, it had been ready. I want to look at the supreme humility of Jesus revealed on the cross, and begin to look at some of its implications.

At the cross, we see the supreme humility of Jesus. Philippians 2:5-8 shows us the enormous humility that Jesus showed in going to the cross. In order to save us from our sins, He abandoned His rightful glory in heaven, and became a human being. In becoming human, He accepted all that that means, and died - and died in one of the most humiliating ways imaginable. For a greek, crucifixion was terrible because it was something that only serious criminals had to face (and even then, not always, e.g. Roman citizens were exempt). For a Jew, it was even worse, because the Old Testament says that someone who hangs on a tree is cursed by God (which Jesus was - as no doubt we'll explore in the future).

The cross displays Jesus' humility. Of that I have no doubt. This means a number of things.

1. Jesus places our good above his dignity. Philippians 2:5-8, where Jesus humbles himself by becoming man and going to the cross, is used to show that we should share the mind of Jesus. In what respect should we share the mind of Jesus? In that we should "do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others." (Philippians 2:3-4)
2. Jesus states in John that he does not seek his own glory (John 8:50). The cross is the most visible example of this. Jesus shows that He loves us and His father above his comfort and glory.
   
3. Equally, though (and here is an awesome paradox), while the cross is the place where Jesus' humility and lack of concern for His glory is most shown, it is also the place where His glory - the greatness of who He is - is most profoundly shown (at least for those who God has revealed it to.) We read this in John 17:1, where Jesus prays that as his hour (of crucifixion) comes, God would glorify Him. This would appear to contradict the above point, were it not for the fact that Jesus goes on to explain that this is only so that "the Son may glorify you", the Father. Jesus does not seek His glory for its own sake, but He does seek it out of love for the Father.
4. This has interesting consequences for our understanding of the glory-seeking of God the Father. The role of the Son is to reveal the Father, and we can know nothing of Him without looking through the Son. The Son is the exact imprint of the Father's nature (Hebrews 1:3), so presumably the Father is like the Son in this respect. However, scripture refers to the Father seeking His own glory. The Father could do so for any number of reasons, of which I can see two which seem to both be at least part of the truth, together.
1. One reason could be that He seeks the good of the church, and this is true, but cannot be the whole truth, as (for example) Ezekiel 36 contains statements that God does things not for the sake of Israel, but for the sake of His name - ie his glory.
   
2. Another could be that he is seeking the Son's glory out of love - this is certainly part of the reason, and is certainly true, and is my preferred main explanation for this. I'll blog later on exactly how strongly we can biblically talk about it, as I would like to comment on this post and subsequent discussion - and hopefully will do at some point. Am, however, unusually busy at the minute. One thing I would say, though, is that it is clear both that the Father seeks the glory of the Son (e.g. John 8:50), and that the structure of trinitarian relationships with the world mean that we cannot glorify the Son other than by glorifying the Father through the Son - we can't really do it in any other way.
   
5. One thing that is clear, though, is that whatever reason there is for the Father seeking His own glory, it is compatible with His fundamental humilty and love. The Father is reflected fully, wholly, and gloriously in the Son - and therefore is like Him in His humility and love.
   

By the way, I am trying to make my blogposts sound less like theological treatises. Although I often think about these topics a lot before I write them, I don't edit them so thoroughly that I'd want them to be seen as of the quality of theological treatises. I'd also like them to be readable - unlike far too many theological tomes.