“For why did Christ, when as yet we were weak, according to the time, die for the ungodly? For scarce for a just man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man some one would dare to die. But God commendeth his charity towards us; because when as yet we were sinners, according to the time, Christ died for us; much more therefore, being now justified by his blood, shall we be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son; much more, being reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. And not only so; but also we glory in God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received reconciliation.”
Jesus sees the inability of man to raise himself to proper love, like a sickness that weighs down the health of someone that should be joyful and doing what they were made to do: “The whole head is sick, and the whole heart is sad” (Isaias 1:5). Just as a leg infected with rot cannot be used to support the weight of a person, so too a soul clouded with sin cannot lift itself to genuine affection with God, thus the Apostle instructs: “Laying aside every weight and sin which surrounds us, let us run by patience to the fight proposed to us” (Hebrews 12:1), which is to fight for love: “All their kings, and their lands he took and wasted at one onset: for the Lord the Goo of Israel fought for him” (Josue 10:42). Therefore, the Divine Physician, in His great mercy, descended to apply the healing balm of His merciful love: “They that are in health need not a physician, but they that are ill” (Matthew 9:12), and this may either be by a medicine to restore the languishing, sick soul: “Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much. But to whom less is forgiven, he loveth less” (Luke 7:47), or preventative medicine, to keep one who was baptized as a child in spiritual wellness throughout their lives, which itself deserves great thanksgiving and affection: “And as I knew that I could not otherwise be continent, except God gave it, and this also was a point of wisdom, to know whose gift it was: I went to the Lord and besought him” (Wisdom 8:21). Both of these paths of life are due to the infinite love of Jesus, that one may be upheld in innocence: “That you may be blameless, and sincere children of God, without reproof, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation; among whom you shine as lights in the world” (Philippians 2:15), another may have his sins turned to glory, just as St. Mary Magdalene: “But he rising early the first day of the week, appeared first to Mary Magdalen, out of whom he had cast seven devils” (Mark 16:9), or St. Paul: “For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God, I am what I am” (1 Corinthians 15:9-10). Now, Love Incarnate, the second person of the Trinity, one of the three members of the Supreme Godhead, died, and this for the unjust: “Because Christ also died once for our sins, the just for the unjust: that he might offer us to God, being put to death indeed in the flesh, but enlivened in the spirit” (1 Peter 3:18). It shows the great folly of God’s love, that extending beyond natural justice, where one would rarely go to death that another that is just may live out of an extreme zeal for virtue or common good, God reaches beyond this to go to death for those whom he loves, who are all unjust, for “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). Divine folly! Divine madness! It is a love that surpasses all understanding, that cannot be grasped with the mind, but can only be known by the heart. God then commends His charity, or expresses the greatness of His merciful love, by bearing the consequences of your sins and the sins of all mankind, that those who sinned may not have to: “But he was wounded for our iniquities, he was bruised for our sins: the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by his bruises we are healed” (Isaias 53:5), like a mother leaping into danger to save her child: “Can a woman forget her infant, so as not to have pity on the son of her womb? And if she should forget, yet will not I forget thee” (Isaias 49:15). If God would go to such extreme lengths as to become man and die that you may be His: “For God so loved the world, as to give his only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting” (John 3:16), St. Paul here notes that He will lavish such abundant grace upon you that you remain so: “A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand: but it shall not come nigh thee” (Psalm 90:7); “He hath given his angels charge over thee; to keep thee in all thy ways” (Psalm 90:11), for as you seek Him: “Seek ye the Lord, while he may be found: call upon him, while he is near” (Isaias 55:6), He will draw you, and keep you very safe that you may be entirely His and He entirely yours: “I to my beloved, and my beloved to me, who feedeth among the lilies” (Canticle 6:2). Now, this was done while humanity as a whole and each individual was, in a sense, an enemy of God, for to be outside the state of grace is to be oriented entirely towards the earth: “For our soul is humbled down to the dust: our belly cleaveth to the earth” (Psalm 43:25), under the heavy yoke of the enemy: “But then indeed, not knowing God, you served them, who, by nature, are not gods” (Galatians 4:8). It is a disposition on the part of the person, for God “lovest all things that are, and hatest none of the things which thou hast made: for thou didst not appoint, or make any thing hating it” (Wisdom 11:25), and while turn from the one deep in sin: “And I will set my face against that man, and will make him an example, and a proverb, and will cut him off from the midst of my people: and you shall know that I am the Lord” (Ezechiel 14:8), it is that they may be pricked in conscience and turn to His merciful love: “Be converted to me with all your heart, in fasting, and in weeping, and in mourning, and rend your hearts, and not your garments, and turn to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, patient and rich in mercy, and ready to repent of the evil” (Joel 2:12-13). Therefore, Christ laid down His life for you, that you may live deeply immersed in His love, aware of it at all times and in all things, never leaving His presence of love: “Am I, think ye, a God at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God afar off? Shall a man be hid in secret places, and I not see him, saith the Lord? Do not I fill heaven and earth, saith the Lord?” (Jeremias 23:23-24). This present union, being able to drink from the stream of God’s love even in this life: “And there thou shalt drink of the torrent” (3 Kings 17:4), thus brings you to glory in God, not having to wait for heaven to rejoice perpetually in God, but letting your heart sing in love now: “My soul shall rejoice in the Lord; and shall be delighted in his salvation” (Psalm 34:9), feasting on love, joy, and beauty: “A cheerful and good heart is always feasting: for his banquets are prepared with diligence” (Ecclesiasticus 30:27).