“What goes up must come down,” the old saying goes. But the gospel turns that principle of gravity on its head: if you want to go up, you must first go down! This week, the Sunday of the Passion, we consider the humiliation of Christ—not just his suffering an ignoble death, but his very incarnation! His humiliation is the ground of our glory, because Jesus (who was made like us) continues to be human even as he rules and reigns at the Father’s right hand. And that exaltation is our hope, for where he is there will we be also. And in the meantime, we can live and serve like Jesus because he has been given to us not just as an example of behavior but as the very life we need.
