NILS VON KALM looks at why, amid the devastation being seen around the world, the COVID-19 pandemic can still be considered a gift…
When we read the opening verses of the letter of James, we might be excused for wondering if he was in his right mind when he penned them.
“Consider it all joy when you face trials of any kind” he says, without any semblance of self-doubt. What was he thinking?!
We would do well to simply trust and believe these words from the brother of Jesus. After all, he knew a thing or two about suffering.
James’ letter, along with the rest of the New Testament and indeed most of the Old, was written in a context of suffering. Persecution was common for the early Christians. And it was genuine persecution, not the type that rich, comfortable Christians in the West often call it when they have lost the cultural wars and no longer have the power they once had.
Bourke Street mall, a normally busy shopping hub in Melbourne, is seen devoid of people after the city re-entered ‘Stage 3’ restrictions as part of efforts to curb a resurgence of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), on 23rd July. PICTURE: Reuters/Sandra Sanders/File photo.
Many of us in the West can now begin to understand why James wrote these seemingly strange words so many centuries ago. COVID-19 has pulled the rug out from under us. Many of us have lost jobs, and even lost loved ones, over these last six months.
Through it all we have seen a number of responses. We have seen the response of fear, where people have hoarded toilet paper in a desperate scramble to get supplies before someone else did. We have also seen denial, with people (including many Christians) being convinced that coronavirus is a hoax and that we are all being lied to.
“Thousands of people have joined movements like The Kindness Pandemic to make sure that the more vulnerable in our society are looked after. This is the love of Christ in action, often from people who don’t claim allegiance to his name. It is for this reason that this virus is a gift to us. It has been showing us how to live, often by exposing the idols upon which our lives have been built.”
Best of all though is the response of love that we have seen. Thousands of people have joined movements like The Kindness Pandemic to make sure that the more vulnerable in our society are looked after. This is the love of Christ in action, often from people who don’t claim allegiance to his name.
It is for this reason that this virus is a gift to us. It has been showing us how to live, often by exposing the idols upon which our lives have been built.
For instance, COVID-19 has exposed to the world the fact that free market capitalism has utterly failed in its attempt to create a society we all want to live in. During the Global Financial Crisis in 2008 and now again with coronavirus, the free market has proven incapable of supplying the needs of the population. Governments have had to spend billions of dollars to stave off economic collapse and ensure that the most vulnerable people are not left on the streets.
When we lose everything in life, we realise what is important. And it is not externals. Like Job, we can respond either in bitterness and fear or fall down in worship and praise the One who is all we have left. Losing it all can drive us to a more complete surrender to what we know in our bones is the life that is truly life.
When Jesus was continually faced with opposition in His life, He reached out in love. I was recently reading the story of the feeding of the 5,000 in Matthew’s Gospel. This story is more than one of provision of food for hungry people. It is the story of a God who reaches out during His own suffering.
At the beginning of this story, we are told that Jesus had just heard of the murder of His cousin, John the Baptist. We know the high esteem in which Jesus held John. When the Baptiser was in prison, racked with doubt and confusion, Jesus told the people that His cousin was the greatest person who had ever lived. High praise from the Son of God Himself!
So Jesus is devastated at the murder of John. In his grief He just wants to get away and be on His own for a while. It is then though that He responds with love.
Love is often birthed out of sadness. When we come to the end of ourselves, we often realise that love is the only response that makes sense. I wonder if Jesus wasn’t just grieving the loss of his dear cousin; I wonder if He was also grieving the violence and hatred he saw all around Him, the violence of a brutal Roman regime which demanded full allegiance, and the violence of a world in which a good man like John could be beheaded just for someone’s pathetic entertainment.
In this grief, Jesus is surrendered, and provides food for hungry people. He gives them a gift of love.
One of the great truths about life is that it is through suffering that we grow, not through the pleasant times. The times in my life which have been the most difficult have been the times in which I have grown the most. When I have felt like I have come to the end of myself, it is then that I have found it easier to surrender to the God who is all love. It is then that I have found it easier to abandon my self-sufficiency and realise that, contrary to the words of William Ernest Henley, I am not the master of my fate or the captain of my soul.
COVID-19 is a gift to us. It has stripped away much and shown us where our treasure has lain and therefore where our hearts have been. This virus has given us an opportunity for growth, an opportunity to become more Christ-like.
“COVID-19 is a gift to us. It has stripped away much and shown us where our treasure has lain and therefore where our hearts have been. This virus has given us an opportunity for growth, an opportunity to become more Christ-like.”
NT Wright, in his colossal book, The Day The Revolution Began, makes the point that it is not despite Jesus’ suffering, but through it and because of it, that salvation has come into the world. No wonder Isaiah calls the Messiah a “man of sorrows, familiar with grief”. It couldn’t be any other way. While the Jews were waiting for a messiah to lead them to a glorious military victory over their oppressors, Jesus chose the way of suffering to win a victory that no-one saw coming.
I wonder, when the economy turns back on, when all our shops are reopened, and sport returns with crowds, if, after the initial excitement and celebration of that wears off, we will look back and remember the days of the lockdown as a time when we were all a little more relaxed. When we saw for a while what is really important in life after taking away all the distractions; when we saw the importance of loving our neighbour and of relationship and community. I hope the ache in our souls for what is real won’t be drowned out again by the noise of the lights and sounds coming back on.
We’ve had the band aid of constant consumerism and entertainment ripped off and the wound is exposed. This is our opportunity to make serious changes in the way we relate as humanity. Otherwise we will very quickly go back to the loneliness, injustice and superficial distractions we had before. Society needs nothing less than a conversion. If James was writing to us today, he would still advise us to count it all joy during this time of trial.
