Readings: Isaiah 50: 4-7; Psalm 22; Philippians 2:6-11; Matthew 26:14-27:66
Creative Love
I’ve had a lot of bosses in my day, so
I can tell you from experience that the best bosses are the ones who aren’t
afraid to get their hands dirty. They
know what’s going on, they’re actively engaged in their teams’ projects, and
they roll up their sleeves and jump right in whenever needed. But there’s one
more quality that makes a good boss into a great leader—creativity. Because
they know what’s going on, what works, and what doesn’t, creative leaders can
handle any problem that comes their way. They mix things up, think out of the
box, and, with the help of their teams, find solutions that get things done. I
think our Palm Sunday readings confirm for us that God is a great leader!
Our second reading from Philippians may well be “the greatest and most
moving passage Paul ever wrote about Jesus.”[1]
In it, we find the perfect example of God’s creativity. We hear how Jesus
humbly set aside his divine rights to share our lot as humans, becoming
obedient “to the point of death, even death on a cross.” For many in Jesus’
time, this understanding of the Messiah was unthinkable. There were lots of
theories about what the Messiah would be like—a warrior, a king, a prophet—but the
Jews never thought their Messiah would be God taking human form to save us from
our sins. And they never believed that God would conquer death by
suffering and dying himself.
Hard to believe? Yes, but it makes sense. “God is love” (1 John 4:8),
and there’s no greater love than to lay down one’s life for a friend (John
15:13). So when sin and death separated humanity from God, God wasn’t afraid to
get his hands dirty. He rolled up his sleeves, stepped right in, and took care
of it himself like the great leader he is. He loves us so much that he got
creative and sent his only Son, so that all who might believe in him would live
(John 3:16). Jesus, then, is God’s creative love in action.
Just last night, Pope Francis said
that what we need the most right now is creative love. That’s the Incarnation
and the message of today’s readings in a nutshell. What’s creative love? It’s emptying ourselves of the attitudes we
lord over others—pride, selfishness, superiority—and taking on the role of the
servant. It’s mixing things up, thinking
out of the box, and finding new and creative ways to solve our problems, not
for personal gain, but for the benefit of our families, our friends, and our
communities. It’s drive-by birthday parties; it’s shopping for those who can’t
or shouldn’t go out; it’s making masks out spare fabric for those who need
them. We’re all called to be part of
Jesus’ team. And together, with God’s creative love as our leader, there’s no
problem we can’t conquer.
[1]
William Barclay, The Letters to the Philippians, Colossians, and
Thessalonians (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2003), 41.
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