It’s the day after Good Friday, April 11, 2020. Still homebound, still trying to make sense of my response to the pathogen lurking unseen outside my four walls. Not as a whole but particularly at this juncture: What does it all mean? What is God’s purpose in this: for me? For the church I serve? For the community I live in? For the nation? For the world? How are things going to change? They already have and it is a well-known fact that people do not react well to change. And these changes are unprecedented.
Trying to part the mists ahead is an exercise in futility. There is no map for where we are going. We thought we knew, when things were going good, the future looked bright. But now it seems like we are caught in an eddy swirling aimlessly in a circle going nowhere. Everything is slowly winding down. Each day brings a new restriction, a new foreboding, one less familiar landmark as the mists grow more dense…
A gentle thought crept into my mind as I pondered how to respond to another day of pandemic reality, ”I’m in the middle.” It’s the day after Good Friday and the day before Easter: What was that day like for the disciples? For one thing, Easter had not yet happened for them. Two, they were existing in a state of fear dreading a knock at the door heralding the arrival of the authorities coming to take them away. Three, the hopes and dreams of a bright future they had just a few short days earlier lay in tatters all around them. Their leader was gone along with their direction.
Some goosebumps hit me at that moment of realization, “I’m in the middle just like the disciples!” I’m anxious over the pestilence that could strike at any moment. Life is uncertain and the momentum I had before this situation began has dissipated. My hopes and plans are in limbo. I have no motivation to move forward. And, it seems as though my Master is just out of sight. Where did He go? Why did He leave? When will He be back? I’ve been sitting here waiting…
We have been blessed with two thousand years of hindsight. We are on the other side of Easter. We have seen and celebrate what the disciples could not even hope for in the middle. The greatest moment in all of history was about to envelop them! But they were captured by despair, fear, and a lack of faith. Jesus summed it up when He inquired of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into His glory? (Luke 24:25 – 26 (ESV))”
“Was it not necessary?” Necessary is defined as “required, absolutely needed, essential, for a particular purpose.” Now, there is a word that has been coming up quite a bit lately in our enforced confinement: essential. We have been compelled by the circumstances to contemplate what is truly essential in our lives. A coincidence?
Were the disciples reconsidering what they deemed to be essential in their lives on the day after? More likely they were in shock over what they had lost. I would have to admit to being in the same condition the first few weeks after this began. But wait, I have the benefit of the risen Lord and the promised indwelling of the Holy Spirit of which the disciples did not possess on their day after.
“O ye of little faith…” comes to mind. Five times in Matthew Jesus utters this phrase. Embarrassing, we have so much in comparison to the eleven at that time and yet, we are no different. They did not even possess the New Testament! It hadn’t been written. Not to imply that the Old Testament is somehow inadequate, we are just blessed to have the complete revealed Word at our disposal: the Scriptures and the risen Christ!
Suffering and death, necessary? Really? Yes, from God’s perspective in eternity, on the other side of death, He sees the purpose behind it. It is revealed in these words from II Corinthians 4:15 – 18 (ESV), “For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God. So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”
This truth is explained further in I Peter 1:3 – 9 (NIV), “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade, kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith, of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire, may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and even though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls!”
Has God been at work during this pandemic, even in and through it, to bring necessary changes to our lives? Without a doubt! Has it been unpleasant, unnerving, and unenjoyable? Most likely, but listen to the advice of James in chapter one, verses two through four (ESV), “Count it all joy, when you encounter trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”
Three benefits: the salvation of your souls, that you may be perfect, and because of these trials, you may be complete, lacking nothing – the goal of your faith! That is impressive! Listen again to the encouraging words from II Corinthians 4:15 – 18 (ESV), “For it is all for your sake… For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”
As the Easter of 2020 fades into the “rearview mirror” for us, the talk of “reopening, getting back to normal” has begun to gain momentum. The prospect of leaving this twilight zone experience is intoxicating. But what will we be returning to? There is no “old” life to go back to, the coronavirus has made and will continue to make dramatic impacts on our way of life, our interactions with one another, our activities, our careers, and our priorities as we move forward. We are in a period of transition and transformation toward a “new normal”.
Some will not be returning to their former place of employment. Some will not be returning home because of economic losses. Some will not be returning to their families. Activities, sports, and social gatherings will not be performed the same way. Habits are being forced to adapt to the new realities of a virus tainted world.
And how will we each change in its wake? It was referred to as a time for “taking stock and evaluating the priorities of one’s life” at the very beginning. But did it happen? Did the “evaluation” produce any lasting changes for the better? If so, will they be strong enough, valued enough, committed completely to, in order to survive the “reopening”, “the return” when it comes? Or will they dwindle away in the rush to reclaim the former things?
Paul has some great counsel for facing this approaching wave of euphoria in Philippians 3:7-16 (NIV), “But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. Only let us live up to what we have already attained.”