Emptying Ourselves to be Filled with the Power to Suffer with Others

Has there been even one evening over the past few weeks that we watched the evening news without sorrow and empathy for the suffering of thousands throughout the world? Devastating natural disasters and violence make us feel helpless.
Walter Brueggemann writes in The Bible Makes Sense: “The Godness of God does not consist in his sovereignty but in his obedient suffering for the sake of the world.” This view of God makes us look thoughtfully at ourselves as made in God’s image. Since God made himself vulnerable, we are called to make ourselves vulnerable. Since God in Jesus gave up his power, we are called to do the same in an emptying of ourselves like that of the self-emptying of Jesus. Then we can be filled with the power to suffer in solidarity with others. We have had so many opportunities to suffer with others—the thousands suffering from hurricanes, floods, fires, violence, war, homelessness. We have probably helped through prayer and almsgiving. We have shared the God-ness of God.