All of us are aware that we are called to imitate Christ. There are two strong passages in scripture and the gospels and Paul=s epistle to the Philippines that mark that out rather well.

        In John 13:1 where Jesus washes the feet of the disciples it=s in symbolic language. Jesus takes off his outer garments, he put=s aside his divinity, he takes up a towel and becomes a servant, a slave if you want, and he pours water into a bowl meaning he pours out his blood for us and then he washes the feet of the disciples meaning that he has justified us, cleansed us, and he wipes our feet with a towel to sanctify us.

        It=s the same images that St. Paul uses in words. In Philippines 2, where he talks about the fact that Jesus does not cling to his divinity but humbles himself and becomes obedient to death, even death on the cross.

        These passages are strong outlines and strong proclamations of what it means to imitate Jesus. We have to empty ourselves. Emptiness can be reflected in different ways and some authors like to say: AWhat must it be like for God to become a human being?@ So they try to help us and say: AWhat must it be like for us if we became dogs?@ Now we have a mind and we want to speak but all we can do is bark. Or we have to limit ourselves to the organism of a canine. Then keep the company of canines for the rest of our lives. It=s pretty hard to profit from that kind of reflection unless we understand what emptying means. Emptying can be unfertile. The Grand Canyon is a empty place, it=s not very fertile. A ditch is not necessarily fertile. But a flute is empty so that the wind can blow through it and make music. A nest is empty so that it can receive life in song.

        The first thing that we learn from these two passages is really a kind of summary of imitating Jesus. It means we must be humble and compassionate. To be humble from the emptiness image reminds us that we have to put our self aside. John the Baptist summarizes this very strongly when he says: AHe must increase and I must decrease to the degree that I can put myself aside Jesus can take over my life.@ This is a difficulty for us and yet it=s the journey that we must take. This putting of self aside means that Jesus can now take over my life and now I can be compassionate with his love.

        I can be an instrument of his to bring his love and mercy to the world. The real path of imitating Jesus really has these two characteristics. Humility grows rather rapidly to the degree that I love Christ. The object of my love is Christ himself so I put myself aside more and more. Then, of course, service to others becomes the compassion that is the flow of Jesus= love for us and for the world.

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