Jesus and COVID
In the Gospels Jesus paints many different pictures of what it means to be His disciple or to enter the Kingdom of heaven. To one He says to be born again, to another He says to sell everything and give it to the poor, to another it is something different.
Read any of Jesus’ interactions with individuals through this lens-- you will be fascinated.
Is Jesus inconsistent in what he is asking of his followers? Is Jesus inconsistent in what it takes to enter the Kingdom of heaven?
No! He is remarkably consistent:
Jesus identifies whatever your strongest loyalty is, the thing that you have built your life on, the thing you find your value in, then he asks you to give that up to come and follow Him.*
Two examples:
John 3 Nicodemus: For many years the evangelical answer of choice was that a person needed to be born again in order to be saved. That phrase was used in just one interaction by Jesus- with Nicodemus. Nicodemus was a wealthy member of the ruling class. He was powerful and from a powerful family. When Jesus tells Nicodemus that he must be born again it is because He is telling him to give up the thing he found the most value in--the power that came from being from his family and in the ruling class.
Mark 10: A young man asks Jesus, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?.... Jesus looked at him and loved him and said “One thing you lack, go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” The young man in this story is identified as, “the rich young ruler,” so it is not hard to figure out where his loyalty lied and why Jesus asked him to give up his riches.
Two interactions. Two different answers.
Here is a list of a few more:
John 3: Nicodemus- born again to enter kingdom of heaven
Mark 10: Rich young ruler: Sell your possessions and give it to the poor then you can follow me
Matthew 4 Peter and Andrew: Leave their fishing boats- identity in job
Matthew 8:22- “Let the dead bury their own dead.” highest value Friends and family
Luke 18:17- “Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it”--- to those who were sophisticated and thought they had it figured out
Matthew 25: Sheep and goats-- to those who greatest value came from their righteousness or to their certainty on how this worked. He says-- give up your certainty and confidence.
What does Jesus continually need to ask you to give up in order to follow him?
I want to be clear that COVID 19 and all of the ripple effects are awful and causing great suffering. But one of the gifts is that the sudden disruption COVID and all its ripple effects has caused has revealed to us where we are putting our value.
What has it revealed for you?
Financial security. Social status. Job performance. Control (perception of control). Certainty. Adventure and activity. Production.
My little sample size of the people I interact with makes me think that two of these are rampant and COVID has exposed it.
Control and Certainty. (Outside of those that are suffering health effects from COVID) those that I know that are struggling the most are struggling because their lives have been built on the perception that they have control and certainty and this has revealed that they don’t.
To those people and to all of us Jesus is inviting us to give up our strongest loyalty and follow Him. I am confident we will experience the life that is truly life.
*I read this many years ago and if I could find it again I would give credit to the author but I have never been able to find the source of this profound insight.