In our culture, we value standing up for ourselves and demanding our rights. To submit is to show weakness or to be inferior. This view can make many Bible passages incredibly uncomfortable for us (cf. Rom. 13:1-5; Eph. 5:21-22; Tit. 2:5, 9; 1 Pet. 2:13, 18). Yet, they should not be uncomfortable if we are truly learning to follow Jesus: from beginning to end, His life on earth was all about submitting.
Have you ever thought about what it was like for Jesus to be born as a human baby? “He was in the beginning with God,” John wrote (Jn. 1:2). Paul added that “all things were created through him and for him,” explaining how Jesus “was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men” (Col. 1:16, Php. 2:6-7). The “likeness of men” is so very fragile. Baby Jesus could have been dropped or rolled over on while He slept. He could have gotten sick. He could have been murdered by King Herod – and Herod certainly tried (cf. Matt. 2:16). The risks to Jesus were very real: yet He submitted. He submitted to God’s reign, choosing to entrust those things beyond His control to the Father.
Hupotasso, the Greek word we translate as “submit”, means “to voluntarily place under”. No one told Jesus that He “had to”: He choose to put Himself under God’s reign all throughout His life, and He taught His disciples to do the same (cf. Lk. 2:51, Matt. 22:15-22). “For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again,” Jesus said, emphasizing, “No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord” (Jn. 10:17-18). Even when crucified, He “continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly” (1 Pet. 2:23). Governor Pilate questioned this unnatural submissiveness, and Jesus simply replied, “My kingdom is not of this world” (Jn. 19:36).
The reign of Jesus is not like the world with its selfish demands and desperation for control. So, if we are going to belong to His kingdom, we must learn to submit. We might be questioned, mocked, and potentially even abused by those who resist Jesus’ reign; but, “to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in His steps” (1 Pet. 2:21). Jesus submitted to God’s will, and so must we.
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