Walking Eagerly in That Same Charity: Fifth Sunday of Lent

By your help, we beseech you, Lord our God,
may we walk eagerly in that same charity
with which, out of love for the world,
your son handed himself over to death.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.

– Collect, Fifth Sunday of Lent –

In this week’s Collect, we are asking God to help us walk eagerly in the same charity with which Jesus handed Himself over to death. This is a bold and daunting request, because Jesus’ charity knows no bounds. He gave everything out of love for the world. He handed Himself over to death for everyone, while we were still sinners, while we were His enemies. And this week we ask God to make us eager to do the same, to walk in a manner of giving everything out of love for others. We will indeed need God’s help.

This prayer certainly isn’t talking about loving in exactly the same way Jesus did, as God does not call us all to die on a cross. Instead, it speaks of walking eagerly in that same charity. This invites us to give ourselves consistently for the people around us in the concrete circumstances that we encounter. There are many ways in which our lives can be repeatedly surrendered, two of which are through embarrassment (think of being mortified) and through inconvenience (when your plans are interrupted.) While these two concepts clearly understate the solemn effects of final death, and in no way communicate fully what Jesus endured in His passion, they can be concrete ways in which we experience death on a daily basis.

One way of handing ourselves over to death out of love for others through embarrassment and inconvenience would be in actively embracing opportunities to stand out or go out of our way to help someone. This could take the form of befriending the unpopular person or swinging by a chapel on the way home from work to pray for those in need. These are absolutely commendable activities, but chances are that actively pursuing mortification is not the only way to find it in our days. We often have embarrassment and inconvenience thrust upon us even when we don’t intentionally seek it. If we are doing the work of our Father in Heaven, proclaiming truth even when it is unpopular, and shaping our actions to God’s law rather than worldly trends, embarrassment will come. People will scorn and not understand. We may be mocked for our faith, even if we don’t try to stand out. Similarly, just in going through life, inconveniences will come. Someone will cut you off in traffic, or have an overflowing cart in front of you in the supermarket line, or launch into a long conversation when you really have somewhere else to be. These inconveniences do not have to be sought out. But in these situations, offered to us for free by the people around us, we can choose to hand ourselves over with charity by following Jesus’ lead. For it was actually this sort of unasked-for yet embraced death that happened to Him. And through it He redeemed the world.

Jesus did not walk into the Sanhedrin and request crucifixion. Instead, while He was going about His Father’s work, death happened. To be sure, He freely handed Himself over. The Gospel of John is clear about that. It says that before His arrest, Jesus said “Father, the hour has come. Give glory to your son, so that your son may glorify you.” (Jn 17:1) Jesus allowed Himself to be arrested, so that He could “drink the cup that the Father gave [Him].” He embraced His cross, and in the end He “handed over the spirit.” Jesus did not seek torture and death, but when it came as a result of living according to the Father’s will, He chose to endure it. He freely gave of Himself every step of the way.

In this we can see what it means to hand ourselves over to death with that same charity with which Jesus did. We don’t have to go out of our way to seek death, because small mortifications will come our way on a daily basis. When they do come, we could get angry or annoyed. We could insist on better treatment or pay the other back in kind. Or we can choose to give of ourselves in love the same way that Jesus did. When others offend us or cause interruptions, through no fault of their own: “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” Even when they intentionally and maliciously hurt us or make our life more difficult: “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.” By this, we love the other person directly, and we offer ourselves to God in love for the salvation of the world, and we love ourselves by growing in humility. Everyone wins.

Difficulties in life will come. We can get embittered. We could get even. Or we can choose to freely hand ourselves over out of love. With God’s help, it’s even possible to get to the point where we want to.  Lord our God, help us to walk eagerly in that same charity with which, out of love for the world, your son handed himself over to death.