Not as the World gives
This evening, as I sat quietly listening to the Lectio 365 devotional for today, I pondered the pressures and distractions we live with every day. The devotional mentioned that Jesus spent time in the wilderness away from people and daily activities. I wonder if it would have been as easy to resist the three temptations if Jesus had skipped the wilderness and gone straight from his baptism to his ministry.
We are bombarded with the importance of busyness, surrounded by enticing distractions, and valued for what we do or have. The World systems value accumulation and achievement above self-emptying and others-focusing. None of this is news to anyone, but knowing it doesn’t make it any easier, or lessen the attraction of the World’s values. The forces of consumerism and individualism are ubiquitous, constantly pushing us to prioritise our own wants above God’s values.
This is the season of Lent, where the church focuses on the wilderness experience of self-emptying rather than shopping malls of abundant self-satisfaction. The Jews spent 40 years in the desert, Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness. If a whole nation and Jesus himself needed this experience, then we do too. The question is, where and how do we find our wilderness experience in a world that wants us to avoid it?
The spiritual practice I want to highlight today is that of kenosis (self-emptying). Consciously becoming aware of the influences that are working on us as we move through our daily lives because we cannot change what we do not acknowledge, and choosing to respond in the opposite spirit. In other words, emptying ourselves of the distractions of this World so that we can focus more clearly on God. I’m not suggesting we make a commitment to poverty by giving up everything, but a commitment to awareness of how the temptations of this World are affecting us.
Cynthia Bourgeault writes, “This is the way of kenosis; the revolutionary path that Jesus introduced into the consciousness of the West.” [1] Jesus’ entire life demonstrates how God loves unconditionally and selflessly. Why hasn’t Western Christianity emphasized what seems so obvious and clear? Cynthia explains:
What makes this mode so interesting is that it’s almost completely spiritually counterintuitive. For the vast majority of the world’s spiritual seekers, the way to God is “up.” Deeply embedded in our religious and spiritual traditions—and most likely in the human collective unconscious itself—is a kind of compass that tells us that the spiritual journey is an ascent, not a descent.
Richard Rohr adds
. . . Jesus had only one “operational mode.”. . . In whatever life circumstance, Jesus always responded with the same motion of self-emptying—or to put it another way, of the same motion of descent: going lower, taking the lower place, not the higher. [2]
One final comment before I wrap up this post: If the dominant principalities of our Western world are consumerism and individualism (which I believe they are), then we are actively engaging in spiritual warfare when we respond in the opposite spirit. Each time we choose to put others first, or resist the allure of an advertisement which is trying to pull us into a wants-based, self-gratifying economy, then we are advancing the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth. I believe this is part of our God-given mandate as God’s ambassadors.
May this Lenten period be a time when you discover the self-emptying Christ in a new an meaningful way.
[1] Cynthia Bourgeault, The Wisdom Jesus: Transforming Heart and Mind—a New Perspective on Christ and His Message (Shambhala: 2008), 66.
[2] Adapted from Richard Rohr, The Divine Dance: The Trinity and Your Transformation (Whitaker House: 2016), 126
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