Because I couldn’t fit everything about my sabbatical into an hour presentation during the forum on Sept. 1st, one of the things I had to curtail was a mention of the importance of self-emptying as foundational for seeing the image of God (imago Dei) in who and what God created. I take that from Philippians 2:7 in which Paul notes that Jesus emptied himself on the cross.
Jesus’ example of self-emptying is not the emptiness of clinical depression, which can be devastating, but emptying of the ego, anxiousness, despair, etc. It is not emptying yourself of your identity, it is emptying yourself of all manner of noise so that you can know and embrace your truest self as it is known in Christ, i.e. who you were created to be.
The most important word in the Christian faith, the greatest commandment, is love. Sin is separation from God, neighbor, and self; a broken covenant relationship. Sin creates the conditions for dehumanization, exploitation, and harm. I have found that, for me at least, following Jesus’ example of self-emptying is the only way to nurture empathy and compassion (co-passion, meaning to suffer with), to be one with who and what God created, thus making it much more difficult to exploit and harm who and what God created. Self-emptying’s bottom line: If you’re full of yourself, you can’t be full of God’s Light and Spirit.
- Marc Vance
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