Greetings in Christ,
There is a lot unknown about the Coronavirus and Covid-19 which has led to concern and even fear and panic in some cases. All one needs to do is go to Walmart and look at the aisle where hand sanitizer would normally be shelved to see people are worried. In addition, universities are shutting down, concerts are being canceled, and leaders are encouraging isolation/quarantine at some level. It can all be pretty scary.
It’s good to ask, then, in a situation like this,
So, what is our response?
Perhaps we should look to the past to answer our worries about the future. Because, believe it or not, we as Lutherans have been here before. In August of 1527, the Bubonic Plague flared up and arrived in Wittenburg, Germany.
Life as they knew it ground to a halt. The university Luther taught at closed, the students were sent back home. Many fled the city. Luther remained behind to care for the infected. After, he would pen one of his lesser-known letters. Entitled Whether One May Flee From a Deadly Plague, it was addressed to the Reverend Doctor Johann Hess at Breslau. I am going to summarize it for you, but if you are interested you can find all 12 pages for free here.”
Luther’s letter breaks down into a number of points. Each I think is an important thought to consider as a Christian.
Vocational Responsibilities:
We each have been given a vocation (roles and responsibilities). Some of our vocations would require us to stay. It would be wrong for those people to abandon their posts and leave. It is especially grievous to leave your responsibilities if you are a Christian. God has placed you here to shepherd your community.
Luther points to John 10:11-15.
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.” – John 10:11-15
For those who are Christians and have a social obligation, it is their responsibility to pick up their crosses and lay down our lives for their neighbor. You may be the last vision of Christ someone witnesses. It’s a sobering thought, but that is the vocation we have been entrusted with.
What if that isn’t your vocation?
Then, what do you do? To them, Luther says you have a difficult choice to make, but you need to be conscious of a number of things. First is the need to acknowledge that sin is happening and perhaps you are caught in God’s judgment. You can wonder which it is, but in the end, it does not make a difference.
Why it is happening is not your concern. You can only respond according to your responsibilities to your family and to the Great Commission. You are called to put God first, then your spouse, then your children, then your extended family, then your community.
What does this mean?
Luther says you are not wrong to flee from trouble. In fact he lists a number of times in the Bible that prove that running from certain death is not necessarily wrong. In fact he goes on to encourage one to take every necessary precaution.
“Use medicine; take potions (this isn’t a magic reference) which can help you; fumigate house, yard, and street; shun persons and places wherever your neighbor does not need your presence or has recovered, and act like a man who wants to help put out the burning city.” – Martin Luther
You are called to deal with your family’s and neighbors’ suffering but do so cautiously and with the proper precautions and tools.
So, should you stay or should you go?
Luther puts it this way:
“If someone is sufficiently bold and strong in his faith, let him stay in God’s name; that is certainly no sin. If someone is weak and fearful, let him flee in God’s name as long as he does not neglect his duty toward his neighbor but has made adequate provision for others to provide nursing care. To flee from death and to save one’s life is a natural tendency, implanted by God and not forbidden unless it be against God and neighbor.” – Martin Luther
Yet Luther also challenges the reader, because great acts of ministry have happened when one puts themselves in harm’s way. You will receive opportunities by your presence that may not have happened otherwise. He goes on to write:
“If someone is so strong in faith, however, that he can willingly suffer nakedness, hunger, and want without tempting God and not trying to escape, although he could do so, let him continue that way, but let him not condemn those who will not or cannot do the same.” – Martin Luther
If you decide to stay and help despite the danger, that is wonderful and commendable, but we don’t look down upon the one who chooses to leave the danger.
You may be called to an act of self-sacrifice. You may be challenged to take great risks to show love. Why? Because God’s unconditional and reckless love sent him to the lost children of God, and the single wayward sheep. Me. Because He lives, I can face tomorrow. My response to that love is the love with which Jesus loves His people…My neighbors.
A Final Thought:
But I think Luther’s greatest moment I found on the 6th page. This is what I want to leave you with.
“Get away, you devil, with your terrors! Just because you hate it, I’ll spite you by going the more quickly to help my sick neighbor. I’ll pay no attention to you: I’ve got two heavy blows to use against you: the first is that helping my neighbor is a deed well pleasing to God and all the angels; by this deed I do God’s will and render true service and obedience to Him.
All the more so because if you hate it so, and are so strongly opposed to it, it must be particularly acceptable to God. I’d do this readily and gladly if I could only please one angel who might look with delight on it. But now that it pleases my Lord Jesus Christ and the whole heavenly host because it is the will and command of God, my Father, then how could any fear of you spoil such joy in heaven or such delight from my Lord?
Or how could I, by flattering you, give you and your devils in hell reason to mock or laugh at me? No, you’ll not have the lat word! If Christ shed His blood for me and died for me, why should I not expose myself to some small dangers for his sake and disregard this feeble plague? If you can terrorize, Christ can strengthen me.
If you can Kill, Christ can give life. If you have poison in your fangs, Christ has far greater medicine. Should not my dear Christ, with his precepts, his kindness, and all encouragement, be more important in my spirit than you, roguish devil, with your false terrors in my weak flesh?
God forbid! Get away devil. Here is Christ and here am I, his servant in this work. Let Christ prevail! Amen!” – Martin Luther
Amen indeed!
In the end, Luther makes sure the reader understands you have a personal responsibility of making the decision for yourself and your family, but he urges you to do so in the light of the Gospel and the remembrance that God is the great physician.
Your salvation is not conditional upon your reaction to a plague. Your salvation is independent of your actions. Yet, let us never be so worried about the life that we have now, that we forget the promise of the life to come and the power of the One who gave us that life.
It’s worth noting that the Bubonic Plague was a tremendous moment in church history. While many were leaving sick family members and communities without help in order to flee the danger to themselves. Many in the church stayed or even traveled to the affected areas to care for those who were suffering. It carried a great cost, but the light of Christ showed brightly and many lives were eternally changed.
Someday I may be down with a sickness, but should the worst happen I will witness his amazing grace.
In Christ’s Service,
Pastor Kurt
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