Our Blessed Lord did not promise paradise on earth to His chosen disciples. He never pledged to provide a fat bank account, a grand lotto win, or a house and lot in order for the disciples to follow Him. No, He never guaranteed any material possessions in exchange for their response to His invitation. Jesus made no pretensions nor swore to give them assurances of earthly comfort.
On the contrary, He made it clear to them, speaking His mind as He said: “Whoever wishes to come after Me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me” (Mk 8:34). Jesus never minced words as He apprised His disciples on the demands of Christianity.
Today, great harm has been done to the Church as we, knowingly or unknowingly, have watered down the truth on discipleship that our Lord Himself has set. We allow a lot of people to think that Church membership and Christian discipleship is easy, that they have nothing to lose nor do they have to give up anything. We never made moves to correct this mistaken notion.
Christianity of today has become a religion of addition and instant comfort. “Hey, sister, if you join us, you’ll get these benefits. Hey, brother, if you become a lay minister, a lector, or a choir member, you’ll be treated in a special way.” No, the exact opposite is true. Jesus, from the very beginning, founded a religion of subtraction. And Christianity, as you grow deeper, requires a series of deductions: “Empty yourself… deny yourself… be poor, and depend on nothing and nobody but God. Never expect compensation nor rewards in the here and now.”
Kenosis is emptying
Kenosis is the Greek word for “emptying oneself”, deciding to become a nobody, a non-entity, a zero. Jesus emptied Himself, and we find the perfect expression of kenosis in St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians:
“Though He was in the form of God He did not regard equality with God something to be grasped at. Rather, He emptied Himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness. And when He found human in appearance, He humbled Himself, becoming obedient to death, even to death on a cross” (Phil. 2:6-8).
Jesus allowed Himself to undergo three kenotic experiences, namely: (1) in the Incarnation, He was born poor in a manager; (2) He died a criminal’s death on the cross; and (3) He chose to remain Bread until the end of time in the Holy Eucharist. We are interested here on the first two kenotic experiences.
That He was born poor, an infant in a manger, with simple and lowly shepherds as His first visitors (Lk. 2:7-8), is our Blessed Lord’s first kenosis. Although He is the omnipotent God who can scan the heights of the heavens and the width of the universe, He was just as well like any other new-born baby that giggled, blubbered and cried as any child would. He was the Word that created the world, yet, He, too, cooed, baby-talked, rolled and crawled as any other infant does.
And yes, He was the Messiah prophesied in the Old Testament, the King of the kings and the Lord of lords (Is. 7:14, Mt. 1:23, Rev. l9:16), but, then again, He, just like you and me, sucked on His mother’s breasts for milk.
A Christmas poem
Francis Thompson had a poem, telling the story of how a little child approached the baby Jesus in the manger (I quote here from memory):
Dear Jesus (asked the child),
Was thou shy once and just as small as I
And how did thou feel like to be just like me?
I should think that thou didst cry.
Was thy home all made of sky?
Dost thou have any toy?
And dost thou play with angels
who art not too tall
Do they play like little boys and girls?
Can thou see me through their wings?
Dost thy mother kiss thee in the night
And hold thee tight?
Dost thou say thy prayer in the night,
How does it feel to be small
And walk and whisper and crawl?
Second emptying
Our Lord’s ignominious passion and death (Jn. 19) is His second kenosis. Before Christ, anyone who was crucified was doomed to hell (or thought to be so) because they were criminals. Everyone who suffered through the loss of lives, severe sickness, or dire poverty were said to be punished by God. Those without husband, wife, or children, were known and perceived to have been under an evil spell. When Jesus came, He was celibate. He suffered as He willingly and bravely submitted to His passion He died on the cross. In so doing, He saved us all from sin He gave glory to the cross.
A Christian martyr in the third century was sarcastically told by the Roman Prefect Oliverius: “It is stupid for you to worship as God a mere man who died shamefully on an infamous cross.” To which the martyr replied: “You remember so well His crucifixion, yet, forget His glorious resurrection and ascension. The crucifixion will prove to you that He was a true Man. His resurrection and ascension will prove that He is, indeed, true God.”
When Jesus was crucified, the disciples saw the worst that had happened to Him. They witnessed what the world did to Him, and realized that they could not defeat Him. Jesus is telling us now: “The victory I won can be yours, too. The world did the unthinkable and unimaginable ever to me, and still, I emerged the champion...by My resurrection and ascension. Life can do the same vicious and vile things to you, bring you down and trample on you.”
Yet, you have the power and the grace to be victorious! Possess the courage to overcome the extreme difficulties and hardships and you can truly conquer the world. Empty yourselves now. Deny your passions and cravings. As you do so, you shall, in the fullness of time, enjoy the glory of the cross.”
When virtually all of Spain was groaning under the Moslem invasion, the Moors chained many Christians to the stone columns in Cordova, among them of which was a nobleman. For several weeks he remained steadfast in Faith until death. Where did he derive his strength? Painfully with his fingernails he kept scratching out and sculpturing a cross on the stone to which he was chained. That sculptured cross still exists to this very day, and visitors view it with much respect for it gave so much strength and encouragement to a hero in agony.
Our Blessed Lord left behind a legacy - that of the glory of His cross and the glorious meaning of suffering (Jn. 20, Acts 1:1-11). The Christian disciple is no longer afraid of dying and suffering, for the promise and the glory of his own resurrection is not far behind. The very Rev. Msgr. Augord, a bishop in flourishing Paris, resigned and decided to go to Africa as a missionary in 1807. At the port, though he was welcomed by the native Christians, he, however, was told that he will find it difficult to live there. And he answered them: “I have not come here to live. I came to die.”
To empty one’s self (kenosis) and to be filled with Christ, to glory in one’s suffering, is Christian discipleship. “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit,” says the Lord (Jn.12:24). Amen!
