The Lord’s Humility in His Incarnation¹
The Lord’s Humility in His Incarnation¹
Wonderful is the Lord in His humility, when He emptied Himself in His birth.
● He came down to the world quietly, without noise, and entered it in secrecy without anyone noticing… He did not appoint beforehand a time for His coming.
Thus He was born on an unknown day; neither earth nor heaven had prepared for it, and no one received Him in it. The day of His birth was obscure for the world, although it is the greatest of days, for on it began the work of salvation that was completed on the cross.
Had the Lord descended to the world in the ranks of His angels, on a great cloud, or in a luminous chariot surrounded by the Cherubim and Seraphim… and had the heavens shaken before Him, or nature… or had heaven celebrated His birth not by a simple star appearing to the Magi, but by the trembling of all the stars and planets… if that had happened, we would have said that this is something befitting of the Lord alone…!
If a person were traveling to some place, he would send messages beforehand, so that loved ones, friends, relatives, acquaintances, and admirers might receive him, and perhaps he would be displeased if someone failed in waiting for him or receiving him…
But the Lord Christ entered the world in silence, far from all forms of reception, without noise, and in a simple, quiet way… He entered with amazing self-denial, or in wondrous self-emptying, and all who received Him were a group of poor shepherds, then the Magi…
● There are people who love noise and the pageantry of reception in their entering and exiting, because the effectiveness of the Birth of the Lord Christ has not yet changed them…
The Lord Christ emptied Himself not only in the quietness of His coming into the world, but in all the circumstances of His birth. How was that?
● He was born of a poor orphaned mother who had no one to support her; the priests entrusted her to Joseph, betrothed her to him so she might live under his care.
And He was born in a village that is “the least among the rulers of Judah” (Matt. 2:6).
And He dwelt in Nazareth, about which people wondered whether anything good could come from it (John 1:46). And He was called a Nazarene.
And He lived thirty years unknown, as a period that seems lost in history.
Even the apostles did not care to write almost anything about it… He lived in it without anyone paying attention to Him, hidden, with no one knowing anything about Him, as any ordinary person… while those thirty years are the period of youth and strength in which every person is concerned with himself, and every young man desires to appear and to do some work…
● The Lord emptied Himself and lived in natural developments like all humans.
He spent a period as an infant and as a child, and was not ashamed of the weakness of childhood…
Including the need for the help of others, while He is the Helper of all!
He needed the care of a mother, while He is the Shepherd of shepherds! He needed a woman made by His hands to carry Him in her arms and care for Him—He who cares for everyone. And she fed Him and gave Him to eat and drink!
And it is wondrous in His childhood that He emptied Himself from using His power… so He fled before Herod, while the spirit of Herod was in His hand! He fled from Herod—He who created Herod and kept him until that day. This is wondrous… Wondrous that we see the Mighty, who is able to do all things, fleeing like other people who flee from distress! He fled from killing, while He is the One who holds life and death… And He came to Egypt and lived there for years, and did not return until the danger had passed, while He could have escaped the man miraculously or destroyed him…
He emptied Himself, so He bore the weakness of humanity—He who is exalted above all weakness—and He allowed Himself to hunger and thirst and grow tired and sleep, like all humans…
It is wondrous that it is said of the Lord that in the end of the forty days “He was hungry” (Matt. 4:2). And wondrous that this Fountain that waters all said to the Samaritan woman, “Give Me to drink” (John 4:7), and said on the cross, “I thirst” (John 19:28). And it is wondrous that it is said of Him that He was tired and sat by the well (John 4:6), and that He slept in the boat (Luke 8:23).
● The Lord emptied Himself in all this self-emptying, to shame those who boast and exalt themselves.
As if saying to them: I was not born in a king’s palace nor on a bed of silk, but in a manger of animals. Yet I will make this manger greater than the thrones of emperors and kings… People will come to it from east to west to be blessed by it.
It is not the place that glorifies a person, but the person who glorifies the place. True greatness springs from within.
Let the Lord dwell in any place, even if it is a place for animals, and let Him be born in any village, even if it is the least in Judah. Yet He will raise the worth of all this… He is born in this lowliness, and transforms lowliness into glory.
He is born of a poor girl and makes her the greatest woman in the world… And He is born in the house of a simple carpenter, and turns him into a saint renowned in the Church…
He emptied Himself from the attribute of kingship:
Our good Teacher could have come as a king, and if He had come thus, no one would have denied Him kingship, for He is from the tribe of Judah, owner of the kingdom, and from the lineage of King David. Yet He emptied Himself of kingship—He who is King of kings (Rev. 17:14)…
He did not come in the form of a king, because the Jews, boasting in human greatness, were waiting for the Messiah to come as a great king, thinking that the greatness of kings would save them.
But the Lord intended to destroy this idea as well, for He did not save them by the greatness of kings, but by the humility of the Nazarene carpenter, whom they despised, saying, “Is this not the carpenter, the son of Mary?!” (Mark 6:3).
He came as a simple carpenter, not as a king, and when kingship sought Him, He refused it and fled from it. And when “He saw that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him a king, He withdrew again to the mountain by Himself” (John 6:15).
And He accepted to be judged before His servants—before Pilate and Herod, and before the members of the Sanhedrin… And He said, “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36).
He emptied Himself from the scepter of kingship and from the honor given to kings, preferring to be surrounded by the love of hearts obedient to His heart, not those who fear the dominance of His authority…
He emptied Himself from the honor of leadership:
He did not ask to be the leader of His followers or their master… but rather their friend. Thus He said to His disciples, “I no longer call you servants… but I have called you friends” (John 15:15). And once He addressed them saying, “I say to you, My friends…” (Luke 12:4).
And He emptied Himself to the extent that He bent down and washed their feet… (John 13:5).
He did not treat people as slaves made by His hands… but was connected to them by the bond of love, not leadership. Humans are the ones attracted to the love of authority and power… but our humble Teacher wanted the hearts of people, not their submission; He wanted their love, not their humiliation, and He did not appoint Himself as a leader over people but as a friend.
Therefore He was loved, not feared. People revered Him out of respect, not terror. He did not want a dread that terrifies people, but a love that draws people. Thus children were able to gather around Him, and John was able to lean on His chest.
Whoever loves greatness has not yet enjoyed the effect of faith.
Abba Anthony once said to his children, “My sons, I do not fear God.” They replied, “This saying is difficult, our father.” He said, “That is because I love Him. And love casts out fear” (1 John 4:18).
People of the world love authority, influence, and control; they want people to fear them, even by force. But Christ our God says, “He who loves Me keeps My commandments.” Meaning, the keeping of His commandments is out of love, not fear…
Even in performing miracles:
The Lord emptied Himself and did not use His power to perform miracles except in utmost necessity.
He did not use His power for Himself, nor for personal benefit. He did not use His divinity to prevent hunger, thirst, fatigue, or pain from Himself. He refused to turn stones into bread to satisfy His personal hunger, while He blessed the five loaves out of compassion for the people.
He did not use His power to dazzle people with miracles, nor for the sake of faith. And when they asked Him for a miracle for entertainment, He did not accept, but rebuked them, saying, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks a sign, and no sign will be given to it…” (Matt. 12:39). He did not dazzle people with miracles like Simon the Magician or the soothsayer of Philippi. He refused to throw Himself from the pinnacle of the temple so that the angels might carry Him, and the people might see the scene and marvel and believe, admiring His greatness!… He refused this, for He emptied Himself of people’s admiration.
Our good Teacher did not surround Himself with glory, for He wanted people to gather around humility, not glory.
Even the miracle of Transfiguration—which could have dazzled the crowds—He did not wish all the people to see, nor even all His twelve disciples, but only three; and He commanded them not to reveal it… He was ascetic in all these things sought by those who desire to show themselves… And more than this, after every miracle that astonished the eyes, He would hide that miracle by an act of human weakness or by speaking of His sufferings… or He would ask the one on whom the miracle had been performed to hide it…
Even for the sake of faith, He did not want to dazzle people with miracles. He wanted their faith to be driven by love and conviction, not because of miracles. What is the proof?
Our proof is that He asked for faith before the miracle, not as its result. Often He would ask the one receiving the miracle, “Do you believe?” or say, “Let it be to you according to your faith.” If he believed beforehand, the miracle happened with him… And it was said of Him that in His own country “He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief” (Matt. 13:58). Faith preceded the miracle, and the miracle was the result of faith, not its cause.
Many of the Lord’s miracles were acts of mercy and love with spiritual purposes… Trace the element of love and compassion in the Lord’s miracles; it will appear to you clearly.
Thus, in the miracle of raising Lazarus, He wept before raising him. The love that was pressing His heart appeared first in His tearful eyes before His power appeared in the words, “Lazarus, come forth.” And many of the healing miracles were preceded by the phrase “Jesus had compassion” or “He was moved” or similar…
He did not use His miracles to defend Himself or to avenge His persecutors and insulters. They insulted Him with every kind of insult, and filled Him with reproach and mockery, and He could have made the earth open its mouth and swallow them, or sent fire from heaven to destroy them, but He did not. He had emptied Himself from using this power that was in Him.
And He lived without a title and without a position:
● The Lord Christ lived without a title, without an official role in society, and without functions in people’s eyes… What was the position of Christ in the Jewish community or in the state? Nothing… He was, in their eyes, only a man going from place to place, working and teaching, without relying on any official standing…
● He was not among the priestly ranks in people’s eyes, for He was not from the tribe of Levi nor from the sons of Aaron; His mother and Joseph the carpenter were from the tribe of Judah.
And His self-emptying in this regard reached the point that, when He healed the leper, He said to him, “Go, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded” (Matt. 8:4). What an exceedingly moving statement! Imagine the Great High Priest—the founder of priesthood and its source—saying to the leper, “Go, show yourself to the priest”!
And what about You, O Lord? You are the Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek! Why do You send me to a priest, and You are the Shepherd of shepherds and the Priest of priests? How wondrous You are in Your self-emptying! You behave as if You have no authority, while You are the source of all authority!!
● And the Lord Christ lived without any social standing, and He had no official status at all, even in His role as a teacher… He was not from the scribes and Pharisees entrusted with teaching at that time, nor from among the priests whose mouths we seek for the law (Jer. 18:18). Nor from the elders nor from the notable ones in society…
Yet despite all that, He filled the world with teaching, and they called Him the Teacher, the Good Teacher, and He was called Teacher even by those of high scholarly status like the scribes and Pharisees…
Thus He showed us how a person can live without a title and yet do more than those who have titles! And in His life as a teacher, He lived having emptied Himself of everything.
He had no place in which to teach:
Sometimes He taught while sitting on the mountain, sometimes He spoke to people while standing in a boat with them sitting on the shore… Sometimes He taught while among fields and gardens, contemplating with His disciples the lilies of the field and the birds of the sky… Sometimes He taught in the wilderness, in a deserted place. Sometimes on the road… In general He had no special place for teaching, no fixed center and no fixed location… He did not even have where to lay His head (Luke 9:58).
And having emptied Himself from attachment to any particular place, He worked in every place…
It is wondrous that God, who fills heaven and earth, had nowhere to lay His head… When He was born, Scripture says, “There was no room for them in the inn” (Luke 2:7). And throughout His incarnation on earth, He had no specific dwelling. At times He went to the house of Mary and Martha, at other times to the house of Mary the mother of John called Mark, or to the house of Simon, or to the Garden of Gethsemane… How wondrous is the Scripture’s saying: “And everyone went to his own house, but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives” (John 8:1)…
Those who followed Him were following the unknown… They did not know for themselves a place nor a center, nor a specific livelihood, nor a defined work. When the Lord Christ said to Matthew the tax collector, “Follow Me,” Matthew followed Him… Had he asked, “To where?” he would not have known how to answer… Had he asked, “What will I do?” he would have stood before a question mark without an answer. The Lord wanted His disciples also to empty themselves… They were merely disciples, not knowing any work except following Christ—who Himself had no known profession, no official work, and no fixed place…
He was surrounded by a group of the poor:
And as Christ emptied Himself, those who emptied themselves—or had no selves—loved Him. Thus He was surrounded by a group of the poor, the needy, and the despised—the “nonexistent”… A group of the foolish of the world, the weak of the world, and the despised of the world (1 Cor. 1:27–28). And thus He chose His disciples: a group of unlearned fishermen, and He chose also one of the despised tax collectors.
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An article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III published in Watani newspaper on 7-1-2001.
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