Self-Emptying

Practicing kenosis in order to be more like Christ

09/26/2018

Luke 9:1-6 Jesus summoned the Twelve and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them to proclaim the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick. He said to them, "Take nothing for the journey, neither walking stick, nor sack, nor food, nor money, and let no one take a second tunic. Whatever house you enter, stay there and leave from there. And as for those who do not welcome you, when you leave that town, shake the dust from your feet in testimony against them." Then they set out and went from village to village proclaiming the Good News and curing diseases everywhere.

The Greek word “kenosis” means self-emptying and Christians use that term to describe what Jesus underwent in his journey from heaven to earth. In order for God to become man – the Incarnation – not only did Jesus have to adopt a human nature, but for all practical purposes, he divested himself of his divine nature. Of course he was still fully God, but he rarely availed himself of his divine abilities, save for a few sparse miracles here and there.

Archbishop Fulton Sheen once compared Jesus kenosis to a man becoming a dog. Imagine having human intelligence but only being able to bark to express yourself, or the skills of playing the piano but only pawing the ground, or the desire to love but only licking someone’s face. I know some dogs that are smarter than some of my friends, but you get the point. Naturally, Jesus’ kenosis was far greater, but you get a little feel for how frustrating it would have been.

Interestingly, we must imitate our Lord’s kenosis when we embark on our journey from earth to heaven, that is, when we die. We experience a kind of kenosis, and I have been watching my parents’ painful passage in this respect. As they grow older they empty themselves of more and more. First, they lose their eyesight, then their hearing, then their teeth, then their ability to walk freely, then their ability to drive a car, then their ability to live in their own home, then their ability to feed themselves. A friend of mine said the hardest part of this kenosis is not being able to go to the bathroom by yourself, or sometimes even making it to the bathroom before you go! C. S. Lewis put it more pointedly referring to Jesus injunction not to sin: “You cannot take all luggage with you on all journeys; on one journey even your right hand and your right eye may be among the things you have to leave behind” (Preface to The Great Divorce). In other words, we spend the first half of life gathering, gathering, gathering, and the second half of life, giving, giving, giving, or at least we should. Jesus underwent a kenosis to enter this world; we must experience a kenosis to depart from this world.

Jesus explains in the gospel that kenosis must likewise characterize a true disciple’s Christian journey on earth, not just their departure. Our Lord instructs his apostles how to evangelize effectively, saying: “Take nothing for the journey, neither walking stick, nor sack, nor food, nor money, and let no one take a second tunic.” Notice Jesus was not asking anything of his apostles that he had not accepted far more radically himself. For Jesus’ journey from heaven to earth, he had taken virtually nothing of his heavenly treasures: no angels, no glory, no power, just the love of his Father and obedience to his will. In a word, Jesus was inviting his apostles to be more like him, the imitatio Christi, the imitation of Christ, the core of Christianity. Whenever a disciple conforms himself that totally to Christ – by serious self-emptying – he or she will change the world just like Jesus did. A Christian should choose kenosis at the beginning of their journey with Jesus, not just at the end, when they are preparing to leave this world.

May I suggest seven ways of self-emptying kenosis? They correspond to the seven capital sins or vices, and are simply the spiritual equivalent of kenosis. Pride is being full of our own importance and ego. We empty ourselves of pride when we accept and acknowledge our mistakes and do not insist that our way is always the best way. Envy desires what you do not have that others possess, and to empty ourselves of envy we should rejoice in other’s achievements and compliment others frequently and freely. Have you noticed how much I compliment Fr. Stephen – now you know why! We empty ourselves of greed by giving to the poor and in the Sunday collection. We need to experience the kenosis of gluttony by not indulging our appetites for food and drink. And we empty ourselves of excess weight, too. We divest ourselves of lust by practicing chastity and continence, which requires letting go of satisfying that sexual instinct. We experience the self-emptying of sloth or laziness when we do not become a couch potato but busy ourselves with spiritual activities. We empty ourselves of anger when we practice patience with those who get under our skin or push our buttons. Each deadly sin indicates an area to exercise kenosis as a Christian because that is what Christ did.

The Old Testament book of Job teaches: “Naked I came forth from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall return there” (Job 1:21). No one could say that more sincerely than our Savior Jesus when he came to earth. He denuded himself of his divinity. The more we can say that ourselves, the more we will be like Christ, and the more blessed we will be.

Praised be Jesus Christ!