influenza — W. Clay Smith Blog

The Corona Virus is probably the best documented pandemic to ever occur, but it is not the first. In 1918, the H1N1 influenza virus swept the world. About 500 million people (27% of the world’s population) contracted the virus, and somewhere between 27 and 100 million people died. As the virus ravaged the United States, theaters, schools, and even churches were closed. Preachers in that era were particularly outraged that churches were forced to close, while in many cities, saloons stayed open.

Other epidemics have struck the world. HIV/AIDS has killed an estimated 32 million so far. Justinian’s plague in 541 to 542AD wiped out forty percent of the population of Europe. A smallpox epidemic in 732AD caused the death of a third of Japan’s population. The Cocoliztli Epidemics of the 1500’s resulted in the death of 80% of Mexico’s population. Epidemics are nothing new in human history.

I’m not an epidemiologist, but I have a friend who is one. She says the Corona Virus is very deadly and to be prepared for quarantine orders. People apparently are already onto this; Walmart looked pretty picked over when I went there this week.

When epidemics happen, two reactions are common among common folk. First is denial: this won’t impact me. The second is fear: this will make me sick and perhaps kill me. Everyone has their own timeline and intensity in their reaction.

It won’t be long before people begin to ask “why?” The question usually goes like this: “If God loves us, why doesn’t he stop this pandemic?” To be sure, some preacher somewhere will declare this pandemic to be God’s judgment on the world. Before we leap to theological conclusions about God’s judgment, let’s get some perspective.

God made this universe a perfect place: no evil, no viruses, no cancer, no addictions. Look up to heavens and you still see signs of his perfect created order. Jesus followers believe Satan rebelled against God, then tempted the first people to do the same. When Adam and Eve sinned, something was unleashed in the universe that didn’t belong. Perfection was wrecked, all the way down to the molecular level. Jesus came to break the power of sin by his death on the cross and his resurrection. One day, according to Revelation, there will be a new heaven and a new earth, with no evil, no viruses, no cancer, no addictions. But that day has not yet come.

But if God loves us, why doesn’t he stop the virus now? If we say, “God must have his reasons and we don’t know them,” it feels hollow, shallow. Yet in a sense, it is profoundly true. God owes us no explanations. Ancient people would have laughed at the idea of a god explaining himself.

This is why the message of the Book of Job is so radical. When Job cries out to God because he suffers unjustly, God answers him not with an explanation, but with an encounter. In a crisis, it is appropriate to reach out to God and ask “why?” It is also good to know that God may answer you not with words, but a whirlwind. In Jesus, God ultimately comes to give us unlimited access to him, so in a crisis we might cling to him. God knows we need him more than we need thoughts about him.

When early Jesus followers faced human suffering, they did not write long explanations, trying to explain God’s actions. They served the suffering. A plague would strike a Roman city. The citizens would flee, leaving the sick to die, and hoping the plague would die with them. Christians stayed, and cared for the sick. They prayed for God’s mercy. They prayed for healing. They thought it more important to be the hands and feet of God, rather than explain God.

How could they stay, when everyone else ran? Those early Jesus followers had a different economy of life. They knew life was eternal. Their hope was not in long life, but in God’s Kingdom. Death would simply be a passage to the next stage of being with Jesus.

In the days ahead, people we love may get sick. People we don’t know will get sick. If you are a Jesus follower, the call is to love all, sick or well. Reach out to sick people. Check on each other. Pray for individuals. Pray that God will be merciful and stop the spread of this virus. Do not panic. And let the peace that passes all understanding guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus our Lord.