Philippians 2:17-18

Posted by DJL on Nov 3, 2012 in Daily Bread | 0 comments

But even if I am being poured out as a libation over the sacrifice and the offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you— and in the same way you also must be glad and rejoice with me.

And now it gets hard. Paul really has no idea if he will survive his present ordeal. Except for him this isn’t hard. He has not only reckoned with the very real possibility of his death but even sees its advantages. It would be good, senses Paul, to be able to set down his task and labors and move to the nearer presence of God.

Moreover, if his death solidifies the faith of the Philippians in that he has provided an example of faithfulness to the end, that also would give Paul joy. That may seem an odd sentiment to us, but Paul does not see death as the end, but only as another beginning.

There is a danger here of reading too much into Paul’s imagery. He does not imagine, for instance, that he is in some way dying for the Philippians. The sacrifice of which he speaks is not the sacrifice of exchange, as if he were implying some form of sacrificial atonement that he is imitating. Rather, he is employing the rich imagery or first century worship, where a glass of wine would be poured out at the time of religious ritual or commemoration. Think of it as akin to lifting a glass in tribute to the deceased at a funeral, where rather than drink the wine the one making the toast pours it into the ground in tribute.

So also, Paul reckons that if his life is to be “poured out” in death, it will only be as an act of thanksgiving for and tribute to the faith, friendship, and partnership in Christ that he has shared with his beloved Philippians.

This may all sound very odd to our ears because we live in a culture dominated by the ideal of perpetual youth, such that the worst thing that can happen is to grow old and die. But sometimes life is sweetest when you know it will not last forever. As the poet Ranier Maria Rilke once said, “the knowledge of our impermanence that haunts our days is their very fragrance.” So also with Paul – knowing he will die, perhaps soon, gives the present moments he shares with the Philippians a piercing joy and rich fragrance, and Paul wants them to know that it is the fragrance of thanksgiving.

Prayer: Dear God, let us live mindful that we will one day die, and allow this knowledge not to daunt us but, by faith in you, to enrich every moment of our living. In Jesus’ name, Amen.