Christ became poor for your sake so that by his poverty, you might become rich. Chapters 8-9 of the second letter to the Corinthians is sub-titled ‘the Collection for Jerusalem.’ Following the hard times that had befallen the Jerusalem church (mother church), Paul organized a project of relief among the communities he had evangelized. In these two chapters, Paul presents the issue as an act of Christian charity and as an expression of the unity of the Church. In today’s passage, Paul commends the Macedonian community for their prompt and generous response to the plight of the church in Jerusalem. He sees in their contribution the Christian virtue of ‘self-giving.’ Their eagerness to reach out to those in need not only joined them to those brothers and sisters of theirs but also to Christ who is the perfect example of self-giving.
Self-giving is a grace that comes with the desire to be an imitator of Christ. It is expressed in a disciple’s life of charity (love in action). Paul elevates charity to a lofty height (cf. 1 Corinthians 13:13) because in it an individual goes out of the self, as it were, in order to meet the other. In charity, an individual ‘leaves’ the comfort of his/her space for the sole benefit of the other. It is out of charity/self-giving that the Incarnation happened. Self-giving in charity is thus the premier Christian virtue that should be practiced by those who profess faith in Jesus Christ.