“No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”
—John 15:13
When I read about Clara Louise Maass, I am reminded of the Martyrs of Memphis and many others who entered places of suffering and disease to help people in need.
They did not all take the same road, and they may not all have traveled for the same reason. Some were moved by faith, some by professional duty, some by compassion, and some by the search for knowledge. Their motives may have been as complicated as our own.
But they shared something important: when helping others required personal risk, they chose to continue.
During the yellow-fever epidemic of 1878, Sisters Constance, Thecla, Ruth, and Frances, along with the Reverend Charles Parsons and the Reverend Louis Schuyler, remained in Memphis to nurse the sick, care for children, comfort the dying, and bury the dead. They all contracted the disease and died.
Twenty-three years later, Clara Maass, a young Lutheran nurse, repeatedly allowed herself to be bitten by mosquitoes that had fed upon yellow-fever patients. We cannot know everything that motivated her. She may have wanted to help her family, become a better nurse, acquire immunity, advance medical knowledge, or help protect others from the disease. Perhaps all these reasons were present.
Clara knew there was danger, yet she was willing to take the risk. She died from yellow fever on August 24, 1901, at only twenty-five years of age.
Taking up the cross does not mean seeking suffering, behaving recklessly, or treating our lives as though they have no value. Our lives are precious gifts from God. Taking up the cross means that love sometimes asks something costly of us.
Some people risk their lives by remaining with the sick. Some enter communities that others have abandoned. Some stand beside those whom society has rejected. Some risk their safety by confronting hatred or injustice. Others quietly give their time, comfort, reputation, or security to help someone in need.
Giving one’s life does not always happen in one final, heroic moment. It can happen through many daily choices to be present, to serve, to speak, and to love.
Clara Maass and the Martyrs of Memphis refused to allow fear to have the final word. They saw the danger, but they also saw the people who needed help.
Most of us will never be asked to enter a yellow-fever ward or submit to a dangerous medical experiment. But each of us will encounter moments when love requires something from us. We may be asked to enter another person’s pain, defend someone who is being mistreated, remain beside someone who feels abandoned, or give up some of our comfort for another person’s good.
The question is not whether we are fearless. Courage does not require the absence of fear.
The question is whether fear or love will have the final word.
Lord Jesus Christ, teach me to see those who need me.
Give me wisdom to recognize the risks love is asking me to take.
Be present with me when I am afraid,
and teach me to give my life through courageous and compassionate love.
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