A Response to COVID-19

(By Gawie Malherbe)

In March we woke up to a world facing crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused many of us to feel some anxiety. When what we have come to expect as normal shifts on a large scale it can leave us feeling shaken. What will tomorrow look like?

Trust in the Lord

Even though the world around us goes through changes, Jesus never does. Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever (including tomorrow!). He is our Rock in times of uncertainty. When we look at heroes of the faith, we see them going through tough times, uncertain times, times of great difficulty. What set them apart was their trust in the Lord. It is good for us to remember that our Father has carried us through every hardship in our lives; He will carry us through this as well.

Being his body

This level of pandemic might be new to our generation, but historically there is nothing new about it. Most recently in 1918 there was the Spanish influenza. During the medieval times the Black Plague swept through Europe.

The following is an excerpt from “The Rise of Christianity” by Rodney Stark.

In 165 AD, when there were something like 40-50,000 Chr-stians on the planet, a devastating epidemic (eventually estimated to be smallpox) swept through the Roman Empire. For the next 15 years, somewhere between a quarter and a third of the empire perished.

In 251 AD, a second epidemic (measles) emerged. There were 5,000 deaths per day in Rome alone, more in the rural areas.

It is hard for us to comprehend the horror and scale of these epidemics.

One historian said:

“The forward march of Roman power and world organization was interrupted by the only force against which political genius and military valor were utterly helpless—epidemic disease…and when it came, as though carried by storm clouds, all things gave way, and men crouched in terror, abandoning all their quarrels, undertakings, and ambitions, until the tempest had blown over.” (Hans Zinsser, as quoted in Stark p 74)

How did Christians in the early church respond? To be sure, they admonished one another not to fear. But how did they “spend” their lack of fear?

Here’s a quote from Dionysius in 260 AD, respecting the actions of local Christians:

“Most of our brother Christians showed unbounded love and loyalty, never sparing themselves and thinking only of one another. Heedless of danger, they took charge of the sick, attending to their every need and ministering to them in Christ, and with them departed this life serenely happy; for they were infected by others with the disease, drawing on themselves the sickness of their neighbors and cheerfully accepting their pains. Many, in nursing and curing others, transferred their death to themselves and died in their stead…The best of our brothers lost their lives in this manner, a number of presbyters, deacons, and laymen winning high commendation so that death in this form, the results of great piety and strong faith, seems in every way the equal of martyrdom.”

And this was not a case of Christians only helping other Christians. A century after the epidemics decimated the population, the emperor Julian lamented that the Christians (“the impious Galileans”) “support not only their poor, but ours as well.”

The early Christians were not offered presidential medals of valor or even informal praise. In fact, what the Christians were doing was viewed as scandalous and subversive to the prevailing pagan order. Emperor Julian complained that Christians had from the earliest days “swelled their ranks with the most vicious, disreputable, and contemptible of persons”: i.e., the poor, the marginalized, the outcasts.

If the church in the past could not only survive times of worldwide pandemic, but SHINE in the midst of it, so can we. How do you sense Jesus is leading you to respond in this time? It is normal to feel some anxiety. Staying close to the Lord and acting in love towards our neighbours glorifies Jesus and leads us to walk in the peace of God no matter what is happening around us.

Of course that long ago there was a lack of understanding of how illness spread. We encourage everyone to be responsible to put yourself at unnecessary risk and become a carrier of the virus, spreading it to others.

Nevertheless, the example of the body of Jesus in times past teaches us that we should never stop caring about people around us. I recently read about a Canadian woman who started a 'caremongering' movement of over 30 000 people who take food to the elderly and sick

BBC News - Coronavirus: Kind Canadians start 'caremongering' trend

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-51915723

A great way to deal with our own anxiety is to take our eyes off ourselves and care for others. During times like these God is glorified and people find hope in Jesus when his people put their faith into action and care for those around us.