The All-Powerful Victim

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Christ’ Power in Gethsemane

The Garden of Gethsemane is the place where Jesus begins what is called his Passion – His suffering and death, by which He saved the world. And normally we think of Jesus as a victim, which of course He is. In fact, the word passion comes from the same word as “passive” – as though Jesus were simply overpowered and ultimately destroyed by the forces of wickedness.

But we get a reminder, even at the beginning, here in the garden – that throughout the entire Passion Jesus is, actually, the one who is in control. When the soldiers come to arrest Jesus, He says to them, “Who are you looking for?” And when they answer, “Jesus of Nazareth,” he says to them: “I am.” With those words, He both acknowledges that He’s the one they’re looking for, and uses the very name of God, given to Moses, so many centuries before. And when He says, “I am,” all those soldiers, with all their weapons, fall to the ground. It knocks them down, it lays them flat out.

The briefest word from Jesus can disable armies. It can wipe out threats. He could conquer the world with a breath if He wanted to. Jesus is the all-powerful God. And He waits patiently while those soldiers pick themselves up. Then He lets them take Him away to His torture and death.

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No one takes my life from me

In John 10, Jesus said very clearly, “No one takes my life from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. For I have the power to lay it down and to pick it up again” This is what He shows in the Garden of Gethsemane, when He displays ability to defeat His enemies with a word – and then meekly submits to their mistreatment. This is the Christian mystery – that Christ was a victim, that He was subjected to the vilest injustice in all of history, and yet that His passion and death was His achievement, His triumph, His mission brought to completion.

This is true of each one of His followers. Their greatest triumphs occur when it seems as though they are helpless, when it seems as though they’ve lost all power. If we are true disciples, then our greatest achievement will be measured by how we perform when we appear to be victims of sickness or injustice or circumstance.

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Suffering and Death for a Christian

All our suffering, when united with Christ, becomes our contribution, our lasting legacy, to the sanctification of the world. And that’s especially true of the suffering we don’t choose. It’s important to practice voluntary penances. But the hardest crosses are often the ones that we don’t have any say in. There again, it may feel like we are just victims – but in fact this becomes the key moment to exercise our greatest power as Christians – the power to turn suffering into salvation with the Lord.

This is true above all in the case of our deaths. We don’t choose the time of our death. We don’t choose the manner of our death. In one sense, it could feel like a purely passive misfortune – like something that happens to you. But for a Christian, just as for Christ, your death is something you do. It’s something you achieve. In fact, it’s your supreme contribution, your greatest gift to the world and to God. So we should be making sure we prepare for it.

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Anointing of the Sick

The Lord has given us a sacrament to help us make our death a good death. To help us lay down our lives, so that we may rise again with Him. In the words of the Catechism, the Anointing of the Sick gives the dying person “the strength and the gift of uniting himself more closely to Christ’s Passion: in a certain way he is consecrated to bear fruit by configuration to the Savior’s redemption.” The Catechism goes on to say that those who receive this sacrament, “by freely uniting themselves to the passion and death of Christ contribute to the good of the People of God.” (1521-1522).

Do you want to be empowered to die well? To die like Christ, full of God’s power, and fully determined to use it in service of the salvation of souls? When Jesus was about to die, He showed His power by knocking over the soldiers with a word. But then He went on to show that this power would be used to save the world.

You have a chance, at your death, through the Anointing of the Sick, to share in that power. Don’t miss it. Don’t miss that opportunity. It’s at your death when you can make the biggest difference of your life.

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Preparing for Death

Jesus was preparing for death His entire life. It was His mission. He came to earth so He could lay down His life – so He could give His life for the world. He prepared for His death. Why don’t we?

Do we not prepare for our deaths because the thought of death scares us? That’s okay – the thought of death scared Jesus too. That’s why right before the soldiers came He was sweating blood. But it was the Father’s will. And it’s the Father’s will for us that we die, and that by our death we help save the world and enter finally into union with the Resurrected Jesus.

So what do we do to prepare? How do we prepare to show the same strength, the same courage, and the same intentionality when we die as Jesus did? Mostly by asking God for the grace of a good death. Asking Him for courage. Asking Him to help you prepare by growing in fortitude and letting go of the sins that make you afraid.  Fortunately, Our Lady has given us her rosary – and every time we say a Hail Mary, we end by asking her to be with us at the hour of our death.

Mother of God – Mother of the All-Powerful Victim, Jesus Christ, grant us the grace and the strength to do well the work God wills us to do. Now, and at the hour of our death.