It might strike some of you odd that I start a post on Jesus and kenosis with an obscure verse like this rather than Philippians 2. This verse is easily overlooked because it is squeezed between two of Jesus's famous miracles, the feeding of the five thousand and his walking on water. The reason I chose to start this discussion with this verse is because in the midst of all the great things Jesus is said to have done, it shows him as the human being he is - tired, worn out, in need of getting away and recharging.
A TWO-TRACK CHRISTOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
There are two theological tracks to choose from when discussing Jesus and kenosis. Simply put, both tracks can be summed up in the concept of Jesus as the Christ being True God and True Man. The most popular and most orthodox track is the one based on Philippians 2 - what is referred to as High Christology or high-descending Christology. For the purpose of this post, I'll call it Track One.
TRACK ONE
In Track One. Jesus empties himself of his divine nature to become one of us. The New Testament largely supports this view. The Gospel of John, as I have explained in numerous posts, not only supports it but largely generates it and takes it to its highest level - Jesus as the only-begotten Son of God, through whom all of creation came into being. In this track Jesus, as True God descends to become True Man, while never letting go of being True God.
This perspective is pretty much ingrained in Christian thinking today. In mainline, more liturgical churches, we say creeds which underscore this view in almost every service offered: " For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven." (Nicene Creed). It's hard to escape that theology without feeling heretical, but I think its wrong theology and increasingly irrelevant in today's world.
Being an Episcopalian, however, I'm not one to throw things away. Rather, I prefer to dust the apostolic creeds off, put them in a tarnish proof bag and shelve them for the time being. You never know when they might come in handy. But I think in the world we live in today, we would do well to revisit Jesus and entertain a healthy skepticism about beliefs in general. The Episcopal Church's Presiding Bishop, Michael Curry has encouraged us to engage in a new Jesus Movement. I think that is wise advice, which brings me to Track Two.
TRACK TWO
The Synoptic Gospels, particularly the teachings of Jesus, in the light of the Hebrew Scriptures, offer a different perspective, which is referred to as low-ascending Christology in some circles. I will refer to it as Track Two. In this more obscure view (considered by some heretical), Jesus is totally human in every sense of the word, just like you and me, and God chooses him. In a manner similar to God choosing Abraham to be the father of the Chosen People, Jesus is chosen to be his identified son; as God's point-man for redeeming humanity to its rightful place.
In Track Two, Jesus divests himself, not of his divinity, but rather the human proclivity to seek power and glory in order to let the power and glory of God shine through his humanity and bring about a new vision of humanity in the service of others. In the end, as I have stated in my last post, Jesus so empties himself of power, of his own will, that the only thing left in his dying breath is the very the essence of our humanity, the breath of God, the very image of God that we are all made in. In this track, Jesus's resurrection is a spiritual resurrection, as Paul indicates in 1 Corinthians 15:42-25. Jesus is restored, Jesus is resurrected in the full image of God - Jesus is one with God. In this sense, Jesus becomes true to God - realized God - while never letting go of his and our true humanity.
What makes the difference between these two perspectives is that while Track One is an attempt to show how deeply God loves us by sending his only begotten Son to die for us, it's almost impossible to see Jesus as something to emulate because Jesus isn't really one of us from the beginning - he becomes one of us. There's always that nagging thought that Jesus was able to do what he did because he was God, not because he was human. In Track One Jesus is the perfect human, a sinless human, a spotless human whose only handicap is that he put on our skin. Read the Gospel of John, and you'll see that Jesus is portrayed as figuratively walking about a foot or two above the ground.
How do you follow that act?
You don't. In fact, you can't.
The only thing you can do is believe it.
And let's be honest, if there was ever a time to question beliefs promoted as facts, now's the time.
Track Two looks at Jesus completely differently. In Track Two Jesus is our exemplar. He is one of us because he starts, ends, and is raised as one of us. Track Two is how I believe the first followers of Jesus understood Jesus. In fact, they called him the Way, someone you could follow.
THE SPONTINAITY OF GOD
We rarely, if ever, talk about God as being spontaneous. I don't believe the word, spontaneous or a similar concept, is ever used in the Bible, even though God is portrayed as being spontaneous from time to time. The problem is we like to think of God as always having a plan - the master-mind and master-manipulator of the universe, but the bible also tells us that we cannot fathom the mind of God.
When I hear preachers, theologians, and regular Christian folk talk about God having plan, I can't help but smile. We like the idea that God has a plan. Everyone should have a plan about something. Right?
God having a plan means we should be able to figure God out if we can figure God's plan out. The reason I smile is because, God being God, doesn't need a plan.
God having a plan means we should be able to figure God out if we can figure God's plan out. The reason I smile is because, God being God, doesn't need a plan.
God is the plan.
And here's what I mean by that:
Start reading the Bible from Genesis, chapter one, verse one. God is spontaneous in the very first verse of the Bible. Was there a plan when he created the world? Was there a plan when he created Adam and then later had to create Eve to help Adam out? Was there a plan when she ate of the forbidden fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil? Track One says yes, Track Two says perhaps, but not necessarily. If there is a plan, its not one can predict and it speaks to God's constancy rather than God's consistency
One thing is to see a pattern, but is a pattern really a plan?
Think for a moment: Why Eve? Why Abram? Why Moses? Why Paul? Why Jesus? Why these particular people?
Once we start trying to figure out God's plan we run into all sorts of theological quandaries. We feel compelled to explain why these individuals were chosen, and we are tempted to come up with reasons and say something of their exceptional nature. All of a sudden, we start feeling the trap of predestination.
Such quandaries are put to rest once we understand the spontaneous nature of God. There is an ambiguity in the choices God makes and I suggest that this ambiguity is important in understanding the love of God in our lives and in the lives of the people we read about in the Bible.
Think for a moment: Why Eve? Why Abram? Why Moses? Why Paul? Why Jesus? Why these particular people?
Once we start trying to figure out God's plan we run into all sorts of theological quandaries. We feel compelled to explain why these individuals were chosen, and we are tempted to come up with reasons and say something of their exceptional nature. All of a sudden, we start feeling the trap of predestination.
Such quandaries are put to rest once we understand the spontaneous nature of God. There is an ambiguity in the choices God makes and I suggest that this ambiguity is important in understanding the love of God in our lives and in the lives of the people we read about in the Bible.
True Love is spontaneous, unpredictable while being constant, and unwavering in its reliability. Above all else, God is love, and as the ancient hymn "Ubi Caritas" says, "Where true charity and love dwell, God himself is there." The presence of God, as Love is all around us and in us.
You may be thinking by now, what has spontaneity of God have to do with the kenotic state of Jesus? In studying scripture, a pattern I see is that God works very close to where people are at; where we're at. God rarely interferes but is constantly involved in what we're doing.
I see God gently guiding and shaping the flow and contours of our own human progression, both as individuals and human history as a whole.. There is always a sense of choice and spontaneity in the realms of the human and the divine. There is a great deal of latitude within the immensity of God and this is why it is important that we understand the role of spontaneity of God in the kenotic state of Jesus as you will hopefully see and come to appreciate.
THE KENOTIC STATE OF JESUS
So I invite you to journey with me on an adventure into Christology's Track Two. We start with choices. God chose Jesus to be his son.
Before going further, I think it fair to ask how can anyone say that with any degree of certainty?
One can't.
The fact is one could say there was a mutual choice in Jesus becoming identified as God's son. One might also ask why am I not capitalizing "Son?" Personally, I think there's a good a reason to capitalize the term "Son" when applied to Jesus, but I want to be careful in differentiating between the Track One view of Jesus being considered God's only-begotten Son and Jesus being the exemplar son, an example and template for all of God's children.
As far as God choosing Jesus to be his son, this can be deduced from the earliest Christian writings; the Epistles of Paul and the Gospel of Mark. Paul, being the earliest Christian writer says nothing of Jesus birth other than he was born of a woman and born under the law [Gal.4:4].
This is a curious statement that gets overlooked because the context starts with the word, "In the fullness of time God sent forth his son, born of woman, born under the law..." When we hear the word "sent" the orthodox mind immediately thinks, sent from heaven, but that is not at all clear in Paul's writings. It could also mean that Jesus was sent forth into ministry at the fullness of time.
Then we have the earliest gospel, the Gospel of Mark. There is no mention of Jesus's birth in Mark. Jesus show up on the redemption stage literally out of the blue. Jesus introduction in the earliest Gospel of Mark merely states:
"And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in the Jordan. And straightway, coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened ,and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him: And there came a voice from heaven saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Mark 1:9-11 [AKJV]
That's it.
Chapter One of Mark is mimicked in almost identical terms in Chapters 3 of the Gospel of Luke and the Gospel of Matthew. What is interesting in these accounts is that apparently Jesus did not know he was God's son until after being baptized, why else would God have to tell him that he is his son? This has all the appearance of a choice and revelation. It is also in keeping with God's modus operandi of picking someone who, for all appearance, is an average Joe like Abraham.
In Mark, Jesus comes to John the Baptist to be baptized, to be changed, and God does just that by declaring him to be his son. The inner conversations that occurs in most like events in the Bible were likely experienced as private visions, intuition and/or revelation that are spoken aloud in all of scripture for us to understand the workings of God's inner dialogue with our thoughts. How Jesus came to see God as his Father, as our Father, is explained in mythical or mystical terminology and presented as real time events that anyone could have witnessed if they had been there. The irony of allegory, metaphor, and myth is that in order to understand them, one has to treat them as real events to get at their meanings, which are often hidden in one's visceral feelings towards what is being told. Detach from them and one loses their meaning.
The fact is, nobody today was present when Jesus was baptized. The writer of Mark was not present. At best it is a story related by others some forty to fifty years after its occurrence. The point is (and it is a very important point) that in Mark we see God choosing Jesus to be his son and throughout the rest of the Synoptic Gospels we see Jesus choosing to see God as his Father, the Father of us all. This was not a new theological perspective, but rather an old theological perspective brought to new light in the person of Jesus.
Before going further, I think it fair to ask how can anyone say that with any degree of certainty?
One can't.
The fact is one could say there was a mutual choice in Jesus becoming identified as God's son. One might also ask why am I not capitalizing "Son?" Personally, I think there's a good a reason to capitalize the term "Son" when applied to Jesus, but I want to be careful in differentiating between the Track One view of Jesus being considered God's only-begotten Son and Jesus being the exemplar son, an example and template for all of God's children.
As far as God choosing Jesus to be his son, this can be deduced from the earliest Christian writings; the Epistles of Paul and the Gospel of Mark. Paul, being the earliest Christian writer says nothing of Jesus birth other than he was born of a woman and born under the law [Gal.4:4].
This is a curious statement that gets overlooked because the context starts with the word, "In the fullness of time God sent forth his son, born of woman, born under the law..." When we hear the word "sent" the orthodox mind immediately thinks, sent from heaven, but that is not at all clear in Paul's writings. It could also mean that Jesus was sent forth into ministry at the fullness of time.
Then we have the earliest gospel, the Gospel of Mark. There is no mention of Jesus's birth in Mark. Jesus show up on the redemption stage literally out of the blue. Jesus introduction in the earliest Gospel of Mark merely states:
"And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in the Jordan. And straightway, coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened ,and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him: And there came a voice from heaven saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Mark 1:9-11 [AKJV]
That's it.
Chapter One of Mark is mimicked in almost identical terms in Chapters 3 of the Gospel of Luke and the Gospel of Matthew. What is interesting in these accounts is that apparently Jesus did not know he was God's son until after being baptized, why else would God have to tell him that he is his son? This has all the appearance of a choice and revelation. It is also in keeping with God's modus operandi of picking someone who, for all appearance, is an average Joe like Abraham.
In Mark, Jesus comes to John the Baptist to be baptized, to be changed, and God does just that by declaring him to be his son. The inner conversations that occurs in most like events in the Bible were likely experienced as private visions, intuition and/or revelation that are spoken aloud in all of scripture for us to understand the workings of God's inner dialogue with our thoughts. How Jesus came to see God as his Father, as our Father, is explained in mythical or mystical terminology and presented as real time events that anyone could have witnessed if they had been there. The irony of allegory, metaphor, and myth is that in order to understand them, one has to treat them as real events to get at their meanings, which are often hidden in one's visceral feelings towards what is being told. Detach from them and one loses their meaning.
The fact is, nobody today was present when Jesus was baptized. The writer of Mark was not present. At best it is a story related by others some forty to fifty years after its occurrence. The point is (and it is a very important point) that in Mark we see God choosing Jesus to be his son and throughout the rest of the Synoptic Gospels we see Jesus choosing to see God as his Father, the Father of us all. This was not a new theological perspective, but rather an old theological perspective brought to new light in the person of Jesus.
This revelation, this insight. or intuition about being chosen to be God's exemplar child results in Jesus being driven into the wilderness, which I see as a metaphor for life. Most ancient theisms have their heroes or gods or demi-gods experience some sort of similar challenge or test that affirms who they are. Jesus being sent into the wilderness follows this pattern, but is given a unique twist that often is underappreciated. The wilderness is where Jesus engages in a kenotic process of emptying himself of any delusions he has about his self and who he is.
In the case of Jesus, he does not come to the conclusion that he is the Son of God; as in, he is the fullness of God in the flesh. He is content to let God say that of him and to embrace it without proof. In the end, Jesus defines his true kenotic Self in relation to God as his Father in terms of his being the Son of Man, to be the everyman exemplar chosen by God.
In fact, a close reading of the temptation story in the Gospel of Luke shows that Jesus resisted the temptation to test if God really was his Father. The court of heaven's appointed adversary, Satan, tests Jesus on three fronts and two levels: The three fronts are, the drive to survive, the desire to succeed, and defying faith in favor of certainty regarding what God says. The two levels in which these temptations are carried out are on a physical/mental and mental/spiritual levels.
In essence, Satan is employing the same test/temptation that was given to Eve to exert personal will over the will of God. Whereas Eve succumbs to her desire to be like God, thus testing whether God's word is valid, Jesus does neither. Jesus has the advantage of scripture to rebut Satan's temptations and tests.
The point of this story is that Jesus is wrung out of any desire for personal power or personal glory. I maintain the story of Jesus' temptation in the wilderness was originally a Track Two story. If Jesus was God's only begotten Son from birth, from the very foundation of the universe, the temptation would have been considered a waste of time, a mere show. In Track Two these events have real teeth, and Jesus as a pure human chosen to be the exemplar of all God's children really sweats, really doubts, really gets hungry, really loses sleep, really suffers in silence and is really tempted to think about himself and his own needs.
It is not until he resists the temptation to utilize the power of God for his own benefit, that he is shown becoming faint and losing self. It is then, in this cracking up state, that the real power of God comes shining through in form of angels ministering to Jesus. As the late song writer Leonard Cohen put it, it's the cracks in our lives that let the light shine through. Jesus is no different in that regard.
Jesus being sent into the wilderness is one of two major kenotic experiences in Jesus's life. In that experience, Jesus empties himself of all pretentions of self as to who he is or could be to allow him to identify with all other selves, all the children of God that are. Throughout his ministry, Jesus excluded no one as a child of God. The second is also a wilderness experience; being alone in the darkness of night in the Garden of Gethsemane or the Mount of Olives. There, at the end of his active teaching and preaching ministry, Jesus finds himself alone facing, once again, the temptation to do something for himself, to cling to the life he so much loves, and once again he empties himself of the drive to survive and the desire to succeed. There he empties himself of his last drop of willpower to be open to all that God is.
The question that arises in all of this kenotic undertaking of Jesus is what led him, or better put, what allowed him to do it. Yes God chose Jesus to be his son, the exemplar child for all of us, but if he is our exemplar, what are we to make of him and our lives? And what does this have to do with worship?
WORSHIP
Let's begin with worship. There are many forms of worship. Regardless of the form or method there is one word that stands out when it comes to worship - giving; as in, giving praise, giving honor, giving glory, and giving thanks. The other side of worship is what we get out of it, peace of mind, forgiveness, communion with God and our neighbor, etc. This is what we think of when we go to church or perhaps temple and synagogue.
There is a another part to worship, another part of giving that is rarely mentioned, at least in Christian circles, and that is devotion.
Worship as devotion is perhaps the deepest form of worship. By devotion, I am not talking about reading little devotional tracts or saying routine prayers, rather, by devotion I am talking about a way of life, worship as a way of life. Devotion demands a giving up of our selves, our sense of personal power and will. Devotion requires creating an inner space that reflects the constancy of God's love.
Jesus was devoted to God in a way that emptied himself, to make room in his heart, to make the rough places plain. I see Jesus in a constant state of devotion, a constant state of worship as kenosis. Kenosis is not just emptying oneself, but emptying for a purpose, emptying to make room, emptying to create a space for God and for humanity to dwell within. Jesus shows us this way. Jesus, himself, needed time for himself, away from the multitudes, to go up into a high place, alone, in the dark to be devoted to the very source of his being, to empty himself of the baggage that he acquired in the healing of those who came to him, to empty himself of the ignorance he encountered, the arrogance that met him, to make room for those who did such things, to make room for those who said nothing.
In track Two, Jesus is depicted as a work in progress from the moment of his baptism to the day of his resurrection. He is our example, and we need this example today more than ever. We need to be devoted to God as Jesus was devoted to God, to let humanity dwell in us as it did in Jesus. We need to be open to God's spontaneity - God's creative love in our lives - to mimic it. To that end or to accomplish that end, Jesus advised, "Be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect.
PERFECTION THROUGH KENOSIS
To be honest I often misquoted Matthew 5:48. As an ardent Track One Christian in my earlier days - where Jesus was totally God from the dawn of time, I quoted this verse as if Jesus was talking about himself, "Be ye perfect as I am perfect." In Track One Christology, that would be honest mistake but it is not what Jesus said.
What Jesus said (to quote the Authorized King James Version) is, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." I have to thank my parish priest for correcting me. I'm glad he did because it deepens what Jesus was talking about.
Putting this text in its context, one recognizes it as coming at the end of Jesus's teaching about loving one's neighbors and one's enemies as oneself. This is the perfection of our Father in heaven - making room for all that is and loving that which God loves - everything.
The entire Sermon on the Mount could be a teaching about kenosis because it turns all of our most firm ideas and ideologies about reality upside down. As Christians we readily agree with all these teachings on an intellectual level, but most of us struggle with seeing them as being practical in our workaday existence. It begins with redefining blessedness or leading a blessed life. It makes us face the harsh realities of life, spiritual poverty, suffering and mourning, being the object of persecution and hatred in a different light, seeing them as a way to empty ourselves of pretense by embracing the factualness of their existence in the midst of God's love for those who go through such ordeals and those who put others through such ordeals.
It's not a popular idea. It never has been and is not likely to become one anytime soon, but it is what we who, identify ourselves as followers of Jesus are called to do. It must become our devotion, our way of life. It is why I prefer the title of agnostic rather than believer. I'm an agnostic for Jesus, for God. It's not what I know or what I believe, but rather that I try to maintain faith, hope, and love in spite of what I think I know and believe.
It's not easy and I am not anywhere near getting close to accomplishing any of it. On my best days, I try to emulate Jesus (if I'm mindful enough); as work in progress. In general, I see myself like everyone else; my friends, my neighbors, and my enemies. As best I can tell, we're all works in progress, and speaking for myself, I have to admit I screw this up on a regular basis because despite what I think I know and think I believe, none of it really matters if it gets in the way of seeing the divine presence in all that is and trying to make room for it all in the small chambers of my heart.
The only way I can imagine getting to close to this is to practice devotion in the form of kenosis, to daily empty the garbage of my self in order to make room for the Self I identify as God that is found in all things. To accomplish that, I frequently find myself finding a corner in my house to sit quietly and let my thoughts tumble by.
At times, some of them glisten and I have to listen for a bit and then let it go to see if it comes back later on. If it does, it might end up in one of these posts.
I pray, not regularly or in prescribed way or in the neurotic sense of trying to get God to do something or stop something. I pray when I become aware I need to empty the garbage - the inner garbage that I have collected. I pray when I'm asked, at the time I'm being asked or I'll forget. I pray trying to remember the names of people who've asked for prayer or who I'm mindful of needing it. I pray for those I don't know, but who I can feel need prayer, need God's presence, which I know is there for them - mentioning them reminds me that God is not only there for them, but also for me and the people I love. I pray for the events that disturb me, the people that disturb me - and after I've done a fair amount of venting - I try to bring them into my heart where I can embrace them because it does my heart good to do so after I cleared the trash of my venting away- seriously.
There seems to be a spiritual wisdom in the practical advice, "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer." I think that's a saying Jesus might have come up with. Hmmm... At any rate the best place to do that is in one's heart. I totally get why Jesus needed to get away to let go and let God, to empty out in order to make space for what comes around the corner. That's where worship comes in to help us get our hearts' priorities straight, which will be subject of my next post.
Until next time, stay faithful.
It is not until he resists the temptation to utilize the power of God for his own benefit, that he is shown becoming faint and losing self. It is then, in this cracking up state, that the real power of God comes shining through in form of angels ministering to Jesus. As the late song writer Leonard Cohen put it, it's the cracks in our lives that let the light shine through. Jesus is no different in that regard.
Jesus being sent into the wilderness is one of two major kenotic experiences in Jesus's life. In that experience, Jesus empties himself of all pretentions of self as to who he is or could be to allow him to identify with all other selves, all the children of God that are. Throughout his ministry, Jesus excluded no one as a child of God. The second is also a wilderness experience; being alone in the darkness of night in the Garden of Gethsemane or the Mount of Olives. There, at the end of his active teaching and preaching ministry, Jesus finds himself alone facing, once again, the temptation to do something for himself, to cling to the life he so much loves, and once again he empties himself of the drive to survive and the desire to succeed. There he empties himself of his last drop of willpower to be open to all that God is.
The question that arises in all of this kenotic undertaking of Jesus is what led him, or better put, what allowed him to do it. Yes God chose Jesus to be his son, the exemplar child for all of us, but if he is our exemplar, what are we to make of him and our lives? And what does this have to do with worship?
WORSHIP
Let's begin with worship. There are many forms of worship. Regardless of the form or method there is one word that stands out when it comes to worship - giving; as in, giving praise, giving honor, giving glory, and giving thanks. The other side of worship is what we get out of it, peace of mind, forgiveness, communion with God and our neighbor, etc. This is what we think of when we go to church or perhaps temple and synagogue.
There is a another part to worship, another part of giving that is rarely mentioned, at least in Christian circles, and that is devotion.
Worship as devotion is perhaps the deepest form of worship. By devotion, I am not talking about reading little devotional tracts or saying routine prayers, rather, by devotion I am talking about a way of life, worship as a way of life. Devotion demands a giving up of our selves, our sense of personal power and will. Devotion requires creating an inner space that reflects the constancy of God's love.
Jesus was devoted to God in a way that emptied himself, to make room in his heart, to make the rough places plain. I see Jesus in a constant state of devotion, a constant state of worship as kenosis. Kenosis is not just emptying oneself, but emptying for a purpose, emptying to make room, emptying to create a space for God and for humanity to dwell within. Jesus shows us this way. Jesus, himself, needed time for himself, away from the multitudes, to go up into a high place, alone, in the dark to be devoted to the very source of his being, to empty himself of the baggage that he acquired in the healing of those who came to him, to empty himself of the ignorance he encountered, the arrogance that met him, to make room for those who did such things, to make room for those who said nothing.
In track Two, Jesus is depicted as a work in progress from the moment of his baptism to the day of his resurrection. He is our example, and we need this example today more than ever. We need to be devoted to God as Jesus was devoted to God, to let humanity dwell in us as it did in Jesus. We need to be open to God's spontaneity - God's creative love in our lives - to mimic it. To that end or to accomplish that end, Jesus advised, "Be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect.
PERFECTION THROUGH KENOSIS
To be honest I often misquoted Matthew 5:48. As an ardent Track One Christian in my earlier days - where Jesus was totally God from the dawn of time, I quoted this verse as if Jesus was talking about himself, "Be ye perfect as I am perfect." In Track One Christology, that would be honest mistake but it is not what Jesus said.
What Jesus said (to quote the Authorized King James Version) is, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." I have to thank my parish priest for correcting me. I'm glad he did because it deepens what Jesus was talking about.
Putting this text in its context, one recognizes it as coming at the end of Jesus's teaching about loving one's neighbors and one's enemies as oneself. This is the perfection of our Father in heaven - making room for all that is and loving that which God loves - everything.
The entire Sermon on the Mount could be a teaching about kenosis because it turns all of our most firm ideas and ideologies about reality upside down. As Christians we readily agree with all these teachings on an intellectual level, but most of us struggle with seeing them as being practical in our workaday existence. It begins with redefining blessedness or leading a blessed life. It makes us face the harsh realities of life, spiritual poverty, suffering and mourning, being the object of persecution and hatred in a different light, seeing them as a way to empty ourselves of pretense by embracing the factualness of their existence in the midst of God's love for those who go through such ordeals and those who put others through such ordeals.
It's not a popular idea. It never has been and is not likely to become one anytime soon, but it is what we who, identify ourselves as followers of Jesus are called to do. It must become our devotion, our way of life. It is why I prefer the title of agnostic rather than believer. I'm an agnostic for Jesus, for God. It's not what I know or what I believe, but rather that I try to maintain faith, hope, and love in spite of what I think I know and believe.
It's not easy and I am not anywhere near getting close to accomplishing any of it. On my best days, I try to emulate Jesus (if I'm mindful enough); as work in progress. In general, I see myself like everyone else; my friends, my neighbors, and my enemies. As best I can tell, we're all works in progress, and speaking for myself, I have to admit I screw this up on a regular basis because despite what I think I know and think I believe, none of it really matters if it gets in the way of seeing the divine presence in all that is and trying to make room for it all in the small chambers of my heart.
The only way I can imagine getting to close to this is to practice devotion in the form of kenosis, to daily empty the garbage of my self in order to make room for the Self I identify as God that is found in all things. To accomplish that, I frequently find myself finding a corner in my house to sit quietly and let my thoughts tumble by.
At times, some of them glisten and I have to listen for a bit and then let it go to see if it comes back later on. If it does, it might end up in one of these posts.
I pray, not regularly or in prescribed way or in the neurotic sense of trying to get God to do something or stop something. I pray when I become aware I need to empty the garbage - the inner garbage that I have collected. I pray when I'm asked, at the time I'm being asked or I'll forget. I pray trying to remember the names of people who've asked for prayer or who I'm mindful of needing it. I pray for those I don't know, but who I can feel need prayer, need God's presence, which I know is there for them - mentioning them reminds me that God is not only there for them, but also for me and the people I love. I pray for the events that disturb me, the people that disturb me - and after I've done a fair amount of venting - I try to bring them into my heart where I can embrace them because it does my heart good to do so after I cleared the trash of my venting away- seriously.
There seems to be a spiritual wisdom in the practical advice, "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer." I think that's a saying Jesus might have come up with. Hmmm... At any rate the best place to do that is in one's heart. I totally get why Jesus needed to get away to let go and let God, to empty out in order to make space for what comes around the corner. That's where worship comes in to help us get our hearts' priorities straight, which will be subject of my next post.
Until next time, stay faithful.
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