In his letter to the Philippians, St. Paul quotes the Kenotic Hymn, an early liturgical text which conveys in power and beauty the self-emptying and humility of Christ, both in His Incarnation and His embrace of the Cross. 

“Though He was in the form of God, Jesus did not deem equality with God something to be grasped, but rather emptied Himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in the likeness of men. Found human in appearance, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:6-8).

The Holy Week liturgies movingly proclaim the radical humility of Christ. 

Jesus enters Jerusalem, riding on a lowly donkey on Palm Sunday. 

On Holy Thursday, the Lord washes the feet of His disciples, doing the gritty work of a slave, and then institutes the Most Holy Eucharist as the enduring sacrament of His presence within and among us, offering His Body and Blood at the Last Supper, as He will do in His human flesh the next morning on the Cross. What gift is more tender, humble, and vulnerable than the Eucharist? 

We move to Good Friday, knowing that we follow a Master who lost His popularity, His clothes, and His life in the most excruciating and horrible fashion — death by crucifixion. 

In all of these startling and saving events, Jesus could not have descended further, gotten any lower, become any humbler. 

He had to get underneath the incalculable and collective weight of our sin and death, wrap Himself in it, and lift it up to the Father in a complete holocaust of self. 

The bloody enormity of the Lord’s sacrifice and the consequent glorious salvation He won for us by it is the extraordinary gift we celebrate every Holy Week.

The power of the crucifix

Contemplating a crucifix convicts us of two fundamental truths — the gravity of our sin and the value of our soul. 

If Jesus’ bloody death was the price, the solution, and the answer to our lost condition of sin and death, then how much our sin must grieve the Lord’s heart! God heals our darkness by taking it upon Himself. 

But secondly, how precious our souls are to God because He thought the price was worth it! How grievous my sin! How precious my soul!  

The Cross teaches us everything we need to know — God’s love for us, the weight of our sin, the drama of salvation, the humility of Christ, and the torrent of mercy which flows from His wounded side.

During these holy days of Christ’s Pasch, hold a crucifix in your hands. Feel the crown of thorns. Touch the wounded side. Kiss the crucified feet. Behold the Son of God, in all humility and vulnerability, dying so that you can live forever, freed and forgiven. See His head bent to kiss you, His arms extended to embrace you, His wounded feet bleeding to heal you. Behold the totality of God’s love for you!

An opportunity to contemplate

When we approach the humility of Christ and contemplate the wonder of His Passion and death, how can we ever stand on our self-importance or cling to an illusory arrogance? 

How can we ever refuse to serve and love our neighbor, especially those who are most broken, lonely, and suffering? 

How can we withhold forgiveness when we see how tenderly the Lord forgives those who tortured, mocked, and killed Him?  

The humility of the Lord takes our breath away when we ponder what such self-sacrifice wrought for the entire human race. No wonder that the kings of the earth will stand speechless before the Suffering Servant (Isaiah 52:15).

As you hold the crucifix in your hands, how does the Passion of Christ break open your heart? 

What resolutions and commitments arise within you, holy desires to be more humble, sacrificial, and kind?  

Who do we still need to forgive, and whose feet can be washed? 

In the Lord’s dying and rising, we have become a new creation, and so we rejoice this week in the beautiful gift of salvation offered to us by a bleeding, broken man hanging on a cross whose glorious Resurrection has purchased Heaven for us. 

A blessed Holy Week and a joyous Easter to everyone!