Bib Overalls

A Series on Advent
Christ hymn - Exalting Jesus’ humility and lordship by Paul
(Click on the link below to read the verses.)
Philippians 2:6-11 

[In Luke’s Gospel, there are four songs attributed to different individuals that were involved in the story of Christ’s birth. In this series, we will look at the meaning of those songs, how the person(s) or angels were involved in the birth story and what it means for us today.]

  

One of my best friends from high school wrote a letter to me following the death of my father in 1983. Here is an excerpt from his letter.

 

“I was so sorry to hear that your Dad had passed away. I’ll always have a special place of memories for him. Whenever I get the inflated image of myself and what I should be expected to do, I think of a Ph.D. in chemistry, in bib overalls, planting radishes on a little hillside. Your Dad continues to pull me back to reality. My remembrances are of a very Christian man whose family and friends were very blessed to have known him.”

 

Paul wrote to the Philippian believers, encouraging them to be humble in their relationships with others. He told them that they should have the same mindset as Christ Jesus.

 

⁶ Who, being in very nature God,
    did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
⁷ rather, he made himself nothing
    by taking the very nature of a servant,
    being made in human likeness.
⁸ And being found in appearance as a man,
    he humbled himself
    by becoming obedient to death—
        even death on a cross!           NIV

 

It's hard for us to imagine that the Son of God, humbled himself to become a man. We can’t really wrap our mind around that concept. In his gospel, John wrote about how Jesus, the Son of God, came to earth. He was Immanuel; “God with us”.

 

¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ¹⁴ The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. NIV    John 1

 

Eugene Peterson’s in his paraphrase The Message, put it like this.

 

¹⁴ The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood.     MSG

 

During this Christmas season, with all the craziness that goes along with it, I hope that you are able to stop and take a breath. Breath in the Spirit of God and his Son who loved you and I so much that he came to earth for us. I don’t think he wore bib overalls, but he could have.

 

Copyright 2025 Joseph B Williams

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