Feeling Warm and Fuzzy

If you want to feel warm and fuzzy, put some bread mold in the microwave.

Kenosis

I delivered this message to a men's gathering early this morning, Good Friday.

I have a son who is now 25 years old. He towers over both me and Wendy,
standing at nearly 6' 4". I love my son. I have always loved my son. He's
my favorite son. He's my only son. Whenever I read a story or watch a
movie about a father who has only one child, a son, I frequently can't help
but to think of my son's and my relationship.

When he was quite young, there would be certain games he and I would play
together. May times I would play in such a fashion so as to deliberately
lose. I could have easily won those games but the goal in playing games
with my son wasn't to beat him at the game. Nor did I deliberately lose
because I preferred losing over winning. I played those games with my son
because I loved him. I deliberately lost at those games so I could
demonstrate to him that I loved him and that I would do anything to build
that love relationship with him... even if I had to lose games. I had to
give up what I was capable of in order to accomplish what I wanted. I had
to deny myself. In a sense, I had to empty myself even though I never
ceased to be who I am. Indeed, you might even say that if I had not
"emptied" myself, I could not have proven myself as a loving father to my
son.

You see, love, by its very nature, requires personal sacrifice. Love can be
measured by the degree to which the lover sacrifices self for the beloved.
In fact, we might even go so far as to say that apart from sacrifice, there
is no love.

There is a wonderful word theologians use that comes from the original
language of the New Testament (Greek) for this sacrifice of self, this
self-emptying. The word is kenosis. When the Saint Paul writes in
Philippians 2 that Jesus "emptied himself" or "made himself nothing," he
uses the word kenosis. In order for God to become fully human in the person
of Jesus Christ, God put himself through a kenotic process, this process of
self-emptying. He didn't cease being God but he voluntarily suspended the
use of his "god-ness." Kenosis explains how God, who is infinite, could come
to dwell in a finite human body. Kenosis explains how one who is omniscient
could honestly declare to his inquirers that he did not know the precise
time of certain future events and even had to be informed of a friend's
grave illness. Because he emptied himself and became nothing, God, who is
omnipotent, could be overcome by hunger and thirst and exhaustion. Kenosis
is how and why he who is omnipresent took time and traveled around a fairly
small geographical area to preach and teaching his message: "Repent for the
kingdom of heaven is near."

But that was not the full extent of God's kenosis. Good Friday demonstrates
to us, if we will pay attention to the scriptures and to the teachings of
the Church, that God had decided that his kenotic love could only be fully
expressed if he emptied himself, sacrificing even of his humanity. Jesus
not only refused to take hold of his "god-ness" to dwell with humans, he
even allowed human beings to treat him as something less than what they
themselves were, creatures made in the image of God. Jesus emptied himself
of even the sanctity of human life.

"Good Friday" is a term we often struggle with because of how we tend to
think about what constitutes "good." We think of "good" being something
that we enjoy, something that provides us with obvious benefits that we
naturally desire. That's what we want and expect any "good" day to be. But
Good Friday is not good for those reasons. Good Friday is good because it
is God's Friday. Good Friday shows us what kind of god God is. Good Friday
shows us how good God really is.

The Resurrection, which we will celebrate in just a couple of days, shows us
God's power to fulfill his promise of life and glory to those who trust him.
But today is Good Friday and we must not ignore it or skip over it. We must
face the reality of it full on. The cross and the grave of this day reveal
to us the small, infantile, corrupt and wicked heart of Man who, because of
sin, chose to kill God rather than decide to turn from sin and trust him.
The cross and the grave also reveal to us the heart of God who, rather than
leaving Man in his heinous condition, executed a plan to change the heart
and mind of men. Good Friday is the day God chose to deliberately lose so
that he might win what was really on his heart and so grant the victory to
those who would trust in him.

Let your heart and mind dwell on the cross and the grave today. Jesus chose
kenosis. He chose to empty himself and become nothing as if to lose
everything. We, too, must chose kenosis, to empty ourselves of "self" and
become as nothing as if to lose everything. In chosing kenosis we can then
receive the salvation Jesus offers and his eternal life. It is only in
allowing the cross and the grave of God's Friday to grip our hearts and
change our minds that our lives are then changed to become like Christ's.

Lord Jesus Christ, to reflect on the cross and the grave, to reflect on your
suffering by our selfishness, and to reflect on your death by our sin,
causes us to grieve. The more we dwell on it, the more we discover our true
brokenness. Help us not to turn away from it. Help us, by the power of the
Holy Spirit sent to us from the Father, help us to let ourselves be broken
and be emptied of self, to be grieved over our sinful ways, to repent and
trust in you. Help us to trust in your promise of salvation by your grace to
all who believe and obey you, today. Thank you for your great and
incalculable love that forgives all our wrong deeds, wrong motives and wrong
attitudes. What an amazing God you are. We praise you for your
incomprehensible love, for your lavish grace, for your mercy that always
follows us, for your mercy that is always fresh and new and constantly
renewed. Bring us all, by your Spirit and by the faith you have granted us,
to the experience of the Resurrection to the praise of your glory just as
you dwell with the Father and the Spirit in glory, one God now and forever.
Amen.