Christians respond with calm and hope.
Readings for this week (Third Sunday in Lent)
This has been an interesting week. As the week has gone on, we’ve seen closings or shifts to online classes for colleges and universities. Disney and the other theme parks are closed. All Florida public schools are closed. Cruise lines are docked. There have been cancellations of every major and college sport. Even the Lake Wales Little League has suspended operations. They even closed Canada! I’m serious – the Canadian government told their citizens that in 10 days they won’t cover their medical care in the USA. So they have to go back and their government is only allowing Canadians across the border.
And then there is the whole toilet paper craze. I heard about it early in the week. Steve Carter told me Walmart’s shelves were picked clean. I heard Publix had imposed a 2-package limit. I went to Publix Saturday and their shelves had been picked clean. I asked the cashier when they might get more in. She said she didn’t know, but they had received 24 pallets of toilet paper that morning.
People are afraid. Our medical experts and governmental leaders are recommending and imposing these closures and cancellations in the hope that they will greatly slow the spread of COVID-19. As I heard one commentator say, the best thing will be for us to look back in a couple of months and say we did too much. I do want us all to observe every precaution, including excellent hygiene and vulnerable members being extra careful and even staying home.
But the toilet paper issue illustrates the more irrational side of this. Fear of being sick or quarantined has created a temporary shortage. And that’s not the only thing. The shelves weren’t generally empty, but they were in many places and in most of the store popular items were in thin supply. Especially the bottled water. Why do people think we’re going to run out of water?
The rational and irrational responses to this pandemic share an important root: fear. Some of it is fear of being in short supply of a serious need. Some of it is fear of death, either for ourselves or for those we love. We all love people who are at serious risk and we all want to minimize suffering and loss of life.
Our collect today couldn’t be more timely:
“Almighty God, you know that we have no power in ourselves to help ourselves: Keep us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls, that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.” (Book of Common Prayer, page 218)
There are two ways in which Christians contend with such fear. The first is to remember that our faith in Christ must shape the ways we respond to such a threat – both the virus itself and the secondary effects to our economy; to jobs and other crises as well as the maddening inconveniences. Several friends shared an essay they’d seen by C.S. Lewis on the atomic bomb, which was new and a terrible threat to everything. He wrote that humanity has always lived with mortal threats, and gave several examples. His conclusion, and you may replace “atomic bomb” with “Corona virus,” is as follows:
“This is the first point to be made: and the first action to be taken is to pull ourselves together. If we are all going to be destroyed by an atomic bomb, let that bomb when it comes find us doing sensible and human things—praying, working, teaching, reading, listening to music, bathing the children, playing tennis, chatting to our friends over a pint and a game of darts—not huddled together like frightened sheep and thinking about bombs. They may break our bodies (a microbe can do that) but they need not dominate our minds.”
https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/cs-lewis-coronavirus/
We must not let fear distract or dominate us. Take the necessary precautions, obey the governmental authorities and medical experts. They may be wrong, but they are the best we have. But don’t let the fear rule your mind or your heart. Do not let it rob you of your peace. Do not let it restrain you from doing the good work Our Lord is calling you to do or living the life he has given you.
The second way in which we contend with all the stresses is rather strikingly illustrated in Jesus’ encounter with this woman at the well. (John 4:5-42) She is the opposite of Nicodemus whom we met in chapter 3. He’s a man; she’s a woman. He’s a Jew; she’s a Samaritan. He came by night; she comes at noon. He has heard and seen Jesus and is seeking him; she has no idea who he is. She is not even interested in talking to this stranger.
He confronts her. John 2:24-25 says, “Jesus knew all people and needed no one to testify about anyone; for he himself already knew what was in everyone.” He already knows what is inside this woman. Everything. Think about that for just a moment: EVERYTHING. In her case we hear about 5 husbands and a current unmarried liaison – but that is just the tip of the iceberg. She says so.
There’s more. You know there’s more. Pastor Mike Atkins put it this way, “Imagine a book that begins on page one with your birth certificate and ends with your death certificate. In between is everything, everything you’ve ever done. Do you want people to read all of it?” God already has. Christ already has. You hear what that woman at the well said? “He told me everything I have ever done!”
Jesus does not avoid, accept or approve of her past sin or present condition and faults. But she left her jar at the well, she left everything at the well and started proclaiming Jesus. Now she believes. Now she has tasted the living water that is a relationship with Jesus Christ. Now her faith has made her well! A spring of water gushing up to eternal life.
We’ve got a big challenge in front of us. We could spend our days angry at the situation, criticizing the steps taken or missed, frustrated and discouraged by the economic straits this is causing. But that is not who we are. We have the living water of Jesus Christ.
And so, as Paul wrote to Rome (Romans 5:1-11), we have peace with God. We take strength in our sufferings because we know that it produces endurance, which produces character which produces hope and hope does not disappoint us. That is who we are. That is how we pray. That is how we live. That is how we serve each other and this community in his name.
Note that the woman at the well wasn’t seeking after Jesus. She just met him. And as Paul notes for all of us, while she was yet a sinner she repented, received His Living Water and told all her friends. Before he even went to the cross he gave her eternal life. There is our strength. There is our hope. Forever.
AMEN