A Christian Ethic for a Modern Pandemic
Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. (Philippians 2:3)
Christianity has been acquainted with outbreaks of disease since its beginnings. From the leprosy that plagued the ancient near east during the time of Jesus to the infamous Black Death that spread throughout the world and killed tens of millions from the 1300s to the 1600s (during which the Protestant Reformation occurred), the Church has endured her share of plagues and pandemics.1
Throughout many of these outbreaks, the Church has been at the frontlines of caring for the sick. Throughout the Plague of Cyprian (A.D. 249-262)2, Christians in Rome took care of their sick neighbors to their own harm. They followed the example of Christ who “humbled himself even to the point of death” (Phil. 2:8). During a local outbreak of the Bubonic Plague, Martin Luther and his pregnant wife, Katharina, remained in Wittenberg in order to take care of the sick and to remain available to their congregation.3
The call of the Christian life is to value the lives of others over your own, as Jesus did when he laid his life down for the Church. The ancient Roman church and Martin Luther laid aside their natural tendencies of self-preservation in order to count others as greater than themselves.
What would it look like for us to follow these forerunners during the current COVID-19 pandemic? What guidance does Jesus offer us today? The Great Commandments give us some clarity.
“37 …’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22)
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind
What are we doing with extra time that this period of quarantine and social distancing forces upon us? Paul famously commanded the church in Thessalonica to “16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” The underlying theme of these commands is that they are not conditional to our circumstances. Rejoice ALWAYS, pray ALWAYS, and give thanks ALWAYS. Loving God supremely, more than even our comfort, allows us to do that.
What if God wants us to actively find reasons to rejoice, needs to pray for, and reasons to give thanks during this time of quarantine? What if we utilized this extra time not to binge on technology, but to spend more time at the Lord’s feet? What if we prayed strategically for God to reach our communities, our cities, and the nations? What if God in his mercy is causing families to engage with one another instead of hiding behind a screen, worlds apart from one another in the same room?
Christians struggle to obey the command to love God supremely, not because we don’t love God, but because we don’t love him more than our busyness. We are like Martha, when God is very clearly calling us to be like Mary (Luke 10:38-42). God has graciously taken the option to be busy away from us. Let us take advantage of the slow pace of these days by finding practical ways to love our God supremely.
Love your neighbor as yourself
Paul gave application to the command of Christ to love others as our own selves by imploring the Philppian church to “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourself.” But how are we supposed to love our neighbors during isolation?
As much as it pains us to admit it, loving our neighbor during this time means staying home. A critical consideration with this virus is that many of its carriers are asymptomatic. If we force ourselves to be busy and find ways to interact with our neighbors, we could be infecting them, or becoming infected ourselves. What if the best practical application of the second greatest commandment during these days is to stay home, wash your hands, and protect the lives of others by staying physically removed from them?
At the end of the day, we have to wrestle with the question: Are we more fearful of boredom than of sickness? Do we love our own social lives more than our neighbors health?
This requires self-denial. We are meant for community. We are even commanded to gather. But we are also commanded to take up our cross and follow Jesus. It is natural for followers of Christ to deeply crave to gather, to serve, and to fellowship with others. But for now, doing so could prove lethal for the most vulnerable people in our lives.
In a letter in response to a friend seeking counsel about whether Christians should flee from the plague, Luther wrote “I shall avoid places and persons where my presence is not needed in order not to become contaminated and thus perchance infect and pollute others, and so cause their death as a result of my negligence.”4 Over five-hundred years later, Luther’s wisdom can be applied practically.
Let us love our God in deeper ways with the extra time on our hands. Let us at his feet and take refuge in him. Then let us have the self-restraint to love our neighbor by staying home and preventing the further spread of this virus. May God bring peace and healing in these days!
Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me,
for in you my soul takes refuge;
in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge,
till the storms of destruction pass by.
(Psalm 57:1)
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