Kenotic Missiology-
Main Biblical
Text: Philippians 2: 5-8
Introduction
The word Kenosis is a Greek term which means “he
emptied himself”. As a Christological statement it has been appealed to as a
scriptural warrant for a highly distinctive understanding of the Incarnation.
In Christian theology, kenosis is the concept of ‘self-emptying’ of one’s own
will and becoming entirely receptive to God and divine will. It is used both as
an explanation of the Incarnation, and an indication of the nature of God’s
activity and will.[1]
Kenotic
Missiology emphasizes the missionary nature of Christ or in other words Christ
as a missionary. It is highly dependent on missionary Christology. Like René
Padilla, this Christology adopts this stance that “the images of Jesus Christ imported
from the West in to the Two Thirds World are inadequate for the life and mission
of the church in situations of poverty and injustice.” This Christology asserts
that Jesus Christ is the Sent One and the Sending One, who comes to the various
nations as the fulfillment of their in articulate striving.
Kenotic
Missiology also adopts a Christo centric soteriology. By that it means, the Roman
Catholic phrase, “Outside the church no salvation” is changed to “Outside Christ
no salvation”. But this emphasis has created issues like, salvation of the infidels,
the gentiles, the unbaptized, and salvation today.
Incarnation
and Self-emptying
Incarnation
The word incarnation is
derived from the Latin verb incarno
meaning “to make into flesh” or “to be made flesh”. It comes from the Latin
version of John 1:14, which reads,” The word became flesh and made His dwelling
among us. Incarnation refers to the act of a pre-existent divine being, the Son
of God, in becoming a human being. Incarnation is a term used by theologians to
indicate that Jesus, the Son of God took human flesh.[2]
The incarnation implies
three facts: the Divine Person of Jesus Christ, the Human Nature of Jesus
Christ, and the Hypostatic Union of the Human with the Divine Nature in the
Divine Person of Jesus Christ. Without diminishing his divinity, he added to it
all that is involved in being human. In Christian belief, it is understood that
Jesus was at the same time both fully God and fully human, two natures in one
person. The body of Christ was therefore subject to all the bodily weaknesses
to which human nature is universally subject, such as hunger (Matthew4:2),
thirst (John19:28), fatigue (John4:60, pain, and death. They were the natural
results of the human nature He assumed.
But the purpose of the
incarnation was not to taste food or to feel sorrow. The Son of God came in the
flesh in order to be the Savior of mankind. First, it was necessary to be born
“under the law” (Galatians 4; 4). All of us have failed to fulfill God’s Law.
Christ came into flesh, under the Law, to fulfill the Law on our behalf (Matthew
5:17; Galatians 4:5) Second, it was necessary for the savior to shed His blood
for the forgiveness of sins (Hebrews 9:22). A blood sacrifice, of course,
requires a body of flesh and blood. And this was God’s plan for the
Incarnation: “When Christ came into the world, he said: ‘sacrifice and offering
you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me” (Hebrews 10:5). Without the
Incarnation, Christ could not really die, and the cross is meaningless.[3]
Self-emptying
Etymologically, it is
from the Greek kenoo “to empty out”.
The New Testament does not use the actual noun kenosis but the verb form kenoo occurs five times (Romans4:14,
1Corinthians1:17, 9:15, 2corinthians9:3, Philippians2:7). Of these five times
it is Phil2:7, in which Jesus is said to have “emptied himself”, which is the
starting point of Christians ideas of Kenosis. The Philippians passage urges
believers to imitate Christ’s self-emptying.[4]
The self-emptying of
Christ can only means that Christ, from all eternity in the form of God, took
another nature in the fullness of time in which He could suffer humiliation
unto death in supreme agony. Christ emptied Himself means that by becoming a
man our Lord gave up all the privileges of the divinity and Godhead. He not
only emptied Himself but also became a servant or a bond slave. Jesus
demonstrated a life of sacrificial Servant hood. Jesus acknowledged that, “the
Son of Man came not to be served but to serve” (Matthew 20:28). By this Jesus
meant that, “the highest honor lies in humble service, not as a reward for it
but in the service itself.”[5]
“Incarnational mission” is perhaps the most elaborate missiological
theory drawn from Philippians 2:1–11. Jesus’ incarnation, self-emptying, and
self-enslaving have deeply influenced missiologists in their research on
crossing cultural barriers with the gospel. Sherwood G. Lingenfelter and Marvin
K. Mayers, for example, based their advice to missionaries on Philippians
2:6–7, saying, “We must love the people to whom we minister so much that we are
willing to enter their culture as children, to learn how to speak as they
speak, play as they play, eat what they eat, sleep where they sleep, study what
they study.” Closely related to incarnational mission, Christian
contextualization is another concept that missiologists have developed to
ensure that “Jesus Christ, the Word, is authentically experienced in each and
every human situation.” A. Scott Moreau defines it as “the process whereby
Christians adapt the forms, content, and praxis of the Christian faith so as to
communicate it to the minds and hearts of people with other cultural
backgrounds. The goal is to make the Christian faith as a whole—not only
the message but also the means of living the faith out in the local
setting—understandable.” This self-giving attitude and sensitivity toward other
cultures adopted by countless missionaries seem even more important at times of
cultural, ethnic, and religious conflicts.
J. Todd Billings writes, “When
the gospel is reduced to identifying with others, the uniqueness of Christ’s
incarnation becomes an afterthought.” Lamin Sanneh also underlines that a
“context-sensitive approach should be responsive without being naive.” Both are
right because every theory and concept we use in mission needs to be tested on
an ongoing basis with biblical tools and with more recent theories from the
variety of disciplines that enrich the field of missiology, which is by
definition multidisciplinary. The biblical concept of incarnation and kenosis
(self-emptying) will continue to attract missiologists as evidenced by a recent
article by R. Daniel Shaw where he uses new analytical tools from cognitive
studies to explore the incarnational model. And, concurrently, theologians of
mission like Charles Van Engen will keep reminding us that theology of mission
only emanates “in biblically informed and contextually appropriate missional
action.”
As Alan Neely reports, they ask “what the incarnation of Jesus implied
in a world beset with injustice, hatred, poverty, exploitation, premature
death, and hopelessness.” They advocate for the poor and the oppressed based on
Philippians 2:5–7, “according to which Jesus renounced the glory that was his
and spent his energy as a slave.” It is evident that Philippians 2:1–11 deeply
relates to those who cross sociocultural barriers with the gospel. As
Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen posits, trinitarian doctrine of the Philippian hymn can
affect human society and “the way we treat people.” He writes, “Christ gave
himself for us in self-sacrificial love—we, in turn, are to seek the interests
of others (Phil 2:1–11).”
Christ’s Model
Christological hymns provides a clear impulse for mission exemplified by
Jesus Christ. Mission originates in the triune God. According to David J.
Bosch “Mission is not primarily an
activity of the church, but an attribute of God. God is a missionary God.”
Jesus Christ, fully divine and fully human, took the form of a doulos
(servant). His kenosis is God’s chosen way to reach out to the world. Martha
Frederiks’s reflection on “kenosis as a model for interreligious dialogue” is
an example of how this passage can be applied. She writes, “kenosis as the act
of self-emptying does not demand surrender of one’s own identity,”
Mission Praxis
J. Verkuyl reminds us that “if
study does not lead to participation, . . . missiology has lost
her humble calling.” And Orlando Costas adds that missiology “is fundamentally
a praxeological phenomenon. It is a critical reflection that takes place in the
praxis of mission.” Mission Praxis should be from following Christ, with the
awareness that the kenosis passage contains references to the death and resurrection
of Christ that no human being can imitate.
Scott W. Sunquist explains Kenosis missions praxis as, “The cruciform
life is not an end in itself. . . . Love is the motive, kenosis
is the means, and transformation is the goal.” Donald B. Kraybill, in his The Upside-Down Kingdom argues
that “We know that the lack of humility has sometimes led to arrogance and
expansionism in global mission. Thus, the question of power is of great concern
to missiologists, who adopted theories such as “servant leadership” or “the
upside-down kingdom.”
Referring to the kenotic example
of Christ, Barth “argued that Jesus transformed worldly notions of power
through his example of leader (power) through the self-emptying love of a
servant to others.”
Paul’s
three indications on self-emptying:
1.
His
self-emptying resulted in His becoming in the likeness of human being.
2.
His
self-emptying consisted of or resulted in his taking the form of a slave.
3.
Christ did not count
equality with God a thing to be grasped. He cannot mean that Christ gave up
equality with God or that he ceased being fully God.
The kenosis deals with
what Christ took on. Jesus added to Himself a human nature and humbled Himself.
Jesus went from being glory of glories in heaven to being a human being who was
put to death on the cross. And being found in appearances as a man, He humbled
Himself and became obedient to death-even death on a cross. In the ultimate act
of humility, the God of the universe became a human being and died for His
creation. The kenosis, therefore, is Christ taking on a human nature with all
its limitations, except with no sin.
Jesus Christ, existing
and remaining fully who He is as God, accepts His divine calling to come to earth
and carry out the mission assigned Him from the father. The self-emptying of
Jesus Christ, Paul does not say that he poured something “out of” Himself.
Rather, He poured out Himself. He poured Himself out by adding to Himself the
nature of a man, indeed, the nature of a servant par excellence who would give
His life in obedience on the cross to fulfill the will of His father.[6]
The
Kenosis of the Missionary-Religious
Religious life as a
special way of discipleship “for the sake of the Kingdom”( Matthew 19:12) and mission as the continuation of the
prophetic mission of Jesus are the two components of the charism of missionary
congregations. The way we live this charism and our religious vows should
reflect as much as possible the commitment of Jesus the missionary. At the same
time it should be nurtured by a spirituality that is modeled on that of Jesus
“the faithful witness” (Rev1:5)
When we look at Jesus’
life and ministry, we can distinguish three moments or dimensions of his
kenosis: the kenosis of incarnation (identification and solidarity with human
reality), the kenosis of the road (being on the move, reaching out to all
people, especially the most abandoned), and the kenosis of the cross
(faithfulness in assuming the ultimate consequences of his mission). Kenosis is
the means by which one becomes part of the mission of God. The kingdom that
Jesus announced and inaugurated is one that is founded on and maintained by
self-emptying love for all.
If kenosis is
constitutive of Jesus’ mission, it follows that missionary praxis always has to
be carried out in the incarnation way of kenosis. Jesus is an integral aspect of mission, proof
of its authenticity, and the test of missionary faithfulness. Hence, an
understanding of the self-emptying of Christ can lead to a fuller comprehension
of his ministry and consequently, of our own missionary commitments.[7]
Evaluation
In many pioneering
mission fields of India, people have not even heard about Jesus Christ. To such
people the attitude, action, and life-style will either exemplify or betray the
Lord Jesus Christ, making either a positive or negative impact. Today in India,
people want to see Jesus in the lives of the Christians and particularly
Christian workers, as Greeks told the disciples, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus”
(John 12:21). It is not enough to preach the truth about Jesus but we must also
practice and show the reality of Jesus in our lives.
To live Christ-like
life is not only possible but also expected of us. Paul says,” I have been
crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians
2:20). Christ-like character demands not only emptying one’s self but also
yielding one’s self to God. That involves full surrender. It is to give up all
legitimate rights and privileges for the service of God and fellow being. Only
when a person empties himself will he be able to be a servant. One must learn
the secret of abandoning his or her utterly inadequate self-sufficiency in
order to draw on the resources of God’s unlimited power. [8]
Self-emptying,
therefore, is the essence of the incarnation and, in a way, indicates the true
nature of Jesus. Following the way of Kenosis is surely no easy task, but one
that will be life-giving both for others and us. It will call for greater
intimacy and identification with the Lord, which is the goal of all
discipleship. “A disciple is not above the teacher, nor a slave above the
master; it is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher, and the slave
like the master” (Matthew 10:24-25).[9]
[1]F.L.Cross & E.A. Livingstone,
The oxford Dictionary of the Christian
Church (Oxford:University press,1958),
[2] Ibid., 696.
[5] S.D.Ponraj,The Mark of Missionary (Chennai: Mission Educational Books, 2002),
45.
[6] Alister E McGrath, Christian Theology (USA: Blackwell
publishers, 1994), 305-307.
[7]http://www.ear.org.oh/resources/eapr/east-asian-pastoral/thekenosisofthemissionary
(November 11, 2018).
[8] S.D.Ponraj, The Mark of Misssionary(Chennai: Misssion Educational Books, 2002),
46
[9] Ibid.,46-53
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