Paul’s Hymn to Christ, the most common title given to Philippians 2: 6-11, is one of the most popular passages in the Pauline corpus, with good reason, and one of his most scrutinized passages as well. To my mind it encapsulates Jesus’ Incarnation and Passion more powerfully than any other short passage in the New Testament in the rhythmic cadences of early Christian hymnology. The passage has been studied on these terms, as an early Christian poem, with the stanza breaks becoming clearer in the Greek original. Some have also traced the provenance of this hymn to pre-Pauline origins, suggesting that Paul adapted an already existing Christian song or poem for this letter to Philippi. If so, it gives us a window on the earliest Christian beliefs about Jesus. Others have focused on the influence of Isaiah 52:13-53:12, the Suffering Servant Song, on this hymn, or other Old Testament motifs. I love this hymn for all of those reasons, but mostly for what it says about the nature of true power. It is all too easy for people to abuse their power, in the religious or in the secular world. It does not take long to scan any newspaper, on almost any day, to find instances of the powerful run amok. Politicians do it, priests do it, it is true, but almost always left out of the equation is, how do I do it? Almost inevitably all of us will abuse the power we have been given, and we all have been given some, either to gain more power, to gain more influence, to stroke our egos, or even simply because of the mysterious drawing power of sin. Jesus’ exaltation is based upon his servanthood, his humility and his obedience, all in the service of his true power, as Paul’s Hymn explains: “because of this God greatly exalted him” (Phil. 2:9). It is not only how God uses his power that is on display in this Hymn, however, but the true human response. “Every tongue (will) confess that Jesus Christ is Lord” (2:11). Why? In order to curry favor? In order to get close to the Big Boss? In order to avoid punishment? No, because in the face of true power, which is ultimately true love, the human being in awe and wonder can do nothing but acknowledge the truth. The bending of every knee is a sign of the acknowledgment of Jesus’ true nature; it is not imposed, but the spontaneous outpouring in response to who he is. Jesus told us he was available to us, even now, in the poor, the weak and the powerless, and that how we treat the least among us is how we will be judged (Matthew 25:31-46). On our Lenten journey to the Cross, let us model our power on the way of the one who walked as a servant, in humility and obedience.

John W. Martens is an associate professor of theology at the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minn,where he teaches early Christianity and Judaism. He also directs the Master of Arts in Theology program at the St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity. He was born in Vancouver, B.C. into a Mennonite family that had decided to confront modernity in an urban setting. His post-secondary education began at Tabor College, Hillsboro, Kansas, came to an abrupt stop, then started again at Vancouver Community College, where his interest in Judaism and Christianity in the earliest centuries emerged. He then studied at St. Michael's College, University of Toronto, and McMaster University, with stops at University of Haifa and University of Tubingen. His writing often explores the intersection of Jewish, Christian and Greco-Roman culture and belief, such as in "let the little children come to me: Children and Childhood in Early Christianity" (Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2009), but he is not beyond jumping into the intersection of modernity and ancient religion, as in "The End of the World: The Apocalyptic Imagination in Film and Television" (Winnipeg: J. Gordon Shillingford Press, 2003). He blogs at  www.biblejunkies.com and at www.americamagazine.org for "The Good Word." You can follow him on Twitter @biblejunkies, where he would be excited to welcome you to his random and obscure interests, which range from the Vancouver Canucks and Minnesota Timberwolves, to his dog, and 70s punk, pop and rock. When he can, he brings students to Greece, Turkey and Rome to explore the artifacts and landscape of the ancient world. He lives in St. Paul with his wife and has two sons. He is certain that the world will not end until the Vancouver Canucks have won the Stanley Cup, as evidence has emerged from the Revelation of John, 1 Enoch, 2 Baruch, and 4 Ezra which all point in this direction.