Today’s author is Prince of Peace’s Intentional Interim, Pr. Steve Sylvester.
“Let each of you look not to your own interests but to the interests of others.” [Philippians 2:4] When I read that line, I hear Inigo Montoya (the character Mandy Patinkin played in the movie “Princess Bride”) saying, “Who are these ‘others’ of whom you speak?” This, I believe, is exactly where we stumble. Recall the expert in the law who in response to Jesus’ encouragement that he love his neighbor, asked, “And who is my neighbor?” Right? “Who are these ‘others’ of whom you speak?”
We want to love whom we want to love. We are willing to look to the interests of others as long as those others are in our group or tribe. But for Mr. Jesus Butinsky to demand that we look to the interests of people who don’t deserve it or who are just, you know, weird or don’t believe as we do, that’s just a bridge too far. But that is exactly what Jesus demands of us, and not that we “also” to look to the interests of the others we would prefer to continue to other, but that we start there and look “especially” to their interests.
In explaining the why of this, it’s tempting to say, “Because this is how community works. If everyone is looking out for everyone, then we all benefit.” In the words of Paul Wellstone, “We all do better when we all do better.” But this is not what’s going on in this second chapter of Paul’s letter to the believers in Philippi. Paul is not passing along sound advice for living well together in community. What he is saying is this is what Jesus did and we are to do likewise? Why? Because God says so.
The greater part of Philippians chapter 2 is devoted to the “Christ Hymn,” which likely predated Paul. The hymn calls out the things about Jesus that were a stumbling block to his fellow believers and were foolishness to world-wise philosophers. No one of good sense refuses to play a winning card and then empties themselves to the point of dying. And even stranger is the idea that someone would be lifted up and exalted for doing so. It makes no sense. But it is how God has chosen to work in the world. How does this make sense? We would much rather follow Queen’s anthem than the Christ Hymn:
We are the champions, my friends
And we’ll keep on fighting till the end
We are the champions
We are the champions
No time for losers
Cause we are the champions of the world.
Paul, however, shrugs off our desire to do what makes sense and what advantages us. With fear and trembling, he says, apply yourselves to this way of living that makes no earthly sense but that is modeled for you by Jesus and commanded of you by God. So, “Let each of you look not to your own interests but to the interests of others.”