The Power of Powerlessness

God's greatest demonstration of His omnipotence was His free choice not to exercise His omnipotence.  

To have power and not to use it - this is the essence of true freedom.  

Human beings are rarely capable of such freedom.  We see the demonstration of power as freedom, so we think we are more free the more we demonstrate our power.  And it becomes an addiction: we clutch at power, we grasp at it, we fight for it, we want to show it off when we have it.  We fail to see that we are no longer free, but slaves to power.  

But to have the opportunity to grasp power - and not to grasp it; to have the opportunity to use power - but not to use it - this is true power, this is true freedom.

That is why Jesus said the first must be last, the master must become the servant.  To become like God, we must show that we are not slaves to power.  

The test is always: are we serving God and others?  In other words: is power being put at the service of love?  For power must be made subservient to love.  Power is not the ultimate value; love is.  And sometimes this means power must not exercise itself if its exercise would contradict the working of love.

Love is why God "emptied Himself" of His power, making Himself vulnerable and contingent to time and space, making Himself susceptible to change and injury and death.  This happened most dramatically at the Incarnation, but the Incarnation was not the only time in human history that God has chosen this kenosis.  In all His interactions with mankind, God gives up His power and places it at the service of His love.  We see it in His conversations with Adam and Eve, with Abraham, with Moses.  He is willing to sacrifice His right to exercise His power because He loves them.  He is willing to make Himself subject to the whims of mankind because He loves them.  The transcendent God makes Himself immanent out of love for us - a desire to be close to us.  The impassible God makes Himself passible - He suffers out of love for us.  In His omnipotence this is the choice He makes.  He chooses to remember us.