CORONAVIRUS AND CHRISTIANS
Look out, look around, and look up
Look out, look around, and look up
The prophet Jonah is probably best known for his maritime
encounter with a tremendous fish. But that’s only part of his story. In the
mid-700s BC, God sent Jonah out of Israel to preach in Nineveh, the capital of ancient
Assyria. His preaching caused the entire city to repent of their wicked ways
and turn to God. Strangely, Jonah was deeply distressed by this because, to
him, Nineveh deserved destruction rather than mercy.
His reaction was completely tone-deaf. He had never noticed
that God consistently called Nineveh “that great city.” And it wasn’t just the
size of the city. It was the people. Literally the last word in Jonah’s story
is when God asks, “Should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are
more than 120,000 people…?”
As of March 17, 2020, the World Health Organization had recorded
165 countries with coronavirus cases. China had more than 81,000; Italy, nearly
28,000; Iran, nearly 15,000 (and perhaps many more unreported cases); Spain,
about 9000. Worldwide, nearly 8000 people had died. Of course, all these numbers
are outdated as quickly as they are published.
On the same date, the United States had about 3500 confirmed
cases; 58 deaths. With certainty we can say that every diagnosis is alarming and
every death is tragic. But, my American Christian friends, do we pity Wuhan,
that great city? Or Milan in Italy? Or Qom in north-central Iran? God pities
those places because millions of people live there-- people who He Himself made
in His image.
We in America are prone to react to the coronavirus based on
how it affects us. To some degree this is natural, of course. These are indeed unique
times marked by unprecedented quarantines and restrictions.
But let’s not personalize our circumstances as if
coronavirus is an attack on our American way of life. That is insulting to the
rest of the world. Frankly, it’s also an affront to God-- the God who pities
the suffering ones,* having given His Son because He so loved the entire world.
Jonah had to understand that his God was bigger than his
homeland. We should all do the same.
____________
*The existence of suffering is itself a valuable discussion
for another post. For now, hold on to this: Never misinterpret suffering as
evidence that God is absent.
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