Emptied Himself of all but love

Kenosis by Lucy Shaw

In sleep his infant mouth works in and out.

He is so new, his silk skin has not yet

been roughed by plane and wooden beam

nor, so far, has he had to deal with human doubt.

He is in a dream of nipple found,

of blue-white milk, of curving skin

and, pulsing in his ear, the inner throb

of a warm heart’s repeated sound.

His only memories float from fluid space.

So new he has not pounded nails, hung a door

broken bread, felt rebuff, bent to the lash,

wept for the sad heart of the human race.

Kenosis refers to the deepest mystery in the universe when the infinite God of the universe became a tiny foetus in Mary's womb.

The God who is larger than the universe contained in a little cluster of cells. The baby so lovingly described in Lucy Shaws beautiful poem as yet untouched by all the world will heap upon Him, is truly a tiny baby and truly omnipotent creator and sustainer God.
Jesus himself affirms that if you have seen Him you have also seen the Father.

Kenosis comes from the Greek word ekenōsen meaning emptied and is found in Philippians 2:5-8  

Jesus who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.  And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of 

death, even death on a cross.

My title comes from the much loved hymn by Charles Wesley: And can it be:

He left His Father’s throne above,

So free, so infinite His grace;

Emptied Himself of all but love,

And bled for Adam’s helpless race:

’Tis mercy all, immense and free;

For, O my God, it found out me.

’Tis mercy all, immense and free;

For, O my God, it found out me.

Many people have criticised Wesley's theology, in that  by emptying Himself to become human he became less than God. However Wesley qualifies this by saying, "emptied Himself of all but love" .

Surely love is par excellence the very being of Godhead. John says in his epistle that God is love

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 1 John 4:7

In fact kenosis is at the very basis of the Godhead as each person of the Trinity pours out their being into the the other persons of the Trinity in a perpetual triangle of self giving love.

By His act of pouring Himself out to death even death on a cross, as Hebrews says:

For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. Hebrews 2:10 

Just as Jesus poured Himself out taking all the burden and guilt of sin and death on the cross.

So the Father pours back into Him,the mighty life of the Trinity. The mighty power of the resurrection, so that we can be made alive in Him.

So as Jesus demonstrates before the last supper, by washing the disciples feet, just as he came to serve and give His life as a ransom for many; so we as His followers are called to love and serve our fellow men in the same way.