“Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself.” Grasping was, of course, the original sin. Adam grasped that apple. Jesus reverses the effect of sin by not grasping. We know had ugly greed can be — grasping after this, that or the other. But the fact that Jesus resists grasping even after “equality with God” should give us pause. Wouldn’t that be a good thing to grasp? The example of Jesus shows us that even being greedy for the things of God can lead us astray. We desire God’s consolation, God’s bounteous gifts. We must imitate Jesus in emptying ourselves and trusting that whatever God gives us, even the cross, if for the best.
