Palm Sunday

I've spent some time on the Easter liturgy, mostly with the two texts that mention a feast, and it's not even Easter yet. In fact the interesting time of Palm Sunday is tomorrow and awaiting us in the lectionary is kenosis passage from Philippians, an early Christian hymn that Paul either wrote or quotes here that goes like this:
Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, 7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, 8 he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death-- even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
As in Corinthians, where Paul is responding to difficulties between believers, he offers an example of Christ's obedience. Where in Corinthians Paul speaks of Christ's crucifixion as the power that establishes God's wisdom and renders the wisdom and power of the world foolish and weak, in this passage Paul uses the whole of Christ's incarnate existence as an example of the Christian life.
Throughout the centuries there have been arguments as to what Christ's emptying of himself might mean, and though it was very certain to Paul's hearers, it is less obvious today. Certainly if you are in a church tomorrow that uses this passage for the text, you should expect evidence of some wrestling with what "emptying" means - accept no easy answers. Likewise with the statement that Christ was in the form (morphe) of God and took the form (morphe) of a slave - expect some grappling with docetic tendencies in the Church. This passage also invites a discussion of the resurrection that pays great attention to the incarnation: how does the incarnation lead toward the resurrection and how does the resurrection flow from the incarnation. But more so, Paul is arguing for servant behavior among the community of faith - and so this passage echoes Christ's discussion of who will be the greatest (he must be servant of all - you call me teacher and lord, and so I am, but I am among you as one who serves).