COVID-19 And John 9

Listening to the Gospel preached yesterday from John 9 about how Jesus healed the man who was blind from birth, three things hit me, especially given our current circumstances during this unprecedented COVID-19 global pandemic...

 

FIRST, Jesus never promised that Christians would never get sick or suffer in this life whether from Covid-19 or from any other disease/illness for that matter. He also frees us from the notion that all physical conditions, sicknesses, or sufferings come as "punishment" from God (John 9:3). He introduces us to the difficult, but great truth that God often works His will and good purpose through our suffering and loss (Romans 8:28). Of course, we should always pray for healing and for miracles, but we should also always praise the Lord for working through more than miracles, for working through suffering, pain, loss, and yes, even death. 

SECOND, Psalm 51:5 says, "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me." Simply put, all of mankind is conceived in sin and we are all born spiritually blind sinners, unable to see our sin, unable to do things God's way, and unable to acknowledge our need for a Savior. So, we Christians should never be ashamed that the only "medicine" we have to offer people for this sin worse that a coronavirus is the very "Cure" Himself -- Jesus Christ, the Great Physician, Who is the only One who can offer us such free healing gifts as the Word of God, Holy Baptism, the Lord's Supper, and Eternal Salvation! The world may consider these good "Means of Grace" to be utterly powerless, but we know they are anything but! They are abundant, healing, life-giving gifts from God, are never in short supply, and that they are the difference between life and death. They are how God saves and sustains us through His Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! 

THIRD, Jesus heals many people by a word and a touch, but His works reveal the bond between sin and sickness, which corrupts the world and touches our lives every day. Yes, pray that Jesus would deliver you and your loved ones from Covid-19. Better yet, pray that Jesus would keep you and yours in the faith, deliver you from evil, and protect you from the effects of sin. His "grace is sufficient for you" (2 Corinthians 12:9) even these days. Listen to Jesus now when He says to you, "Do you now believe? Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world." (John 16:31-33). When we face temptation and trouble in this world, we can take heart that Christ has overcome the world for our sake. O Christ, in crisis situations, give me the peace only You can give. Amen.

NOTE: Please understand that I'm not a called and ordained minister of God's Word and Sacraments. I'm a layman or just your average everyday Christian, Corporate Healthcare Recruiter, Husband, Father, Friend who lives in the "City of Good Neighbors" here on the East Coast. As another Christian Blogger once wrote, "Please do not see this blog as me attempting to 'publicly teach' the faith, but view it as 'an informal Public Journal of sorts' about my own experiences and journey." So if any of my notes here help you in any way at all, then I say, "Praise the Lord! Thanks be to God!" but please do double check them against the Word of God and with your own Pastor. Trust, but always verify. To be more specific, and relevant to the point I want to make with this lengthy disclaimer/note, please understand that I'm a relatively new convert to "Confessional Lutheranism" and one who recently escaped an American-Evangelical-Non-Denominational mindset a little more than 6 years ago now despite being a Christian my whole life. That being said, please contact me ASAP if you believe that any of my "old beliefs" seem to have crept their way back into any of the material you see published here, and especially if any of the content is inconsistent with the Bible, our Confessions, and Lutheran doctrine in general (in other words, if it's not consistent with God's Word, which our Confessions merely summarize and repeatedly point us back to over and over again) so that I can not only correct those errors immediately and not lead any of His little ones astray (James 3:1), but so that I can also repent of my sin and learn the whole truth myself. With that in mind, please be aware that you might also discover that some of the earlier/older pieces I wrote for this blog back in 2013 definitely fall into that "Old Evangelical Adam" category (and they don't have a disclaimer like this) since I was a "Lutheran-In-Name-Only" at the time and was completely oblivious to the fact that a Christian "Book of Concord" even existed (Small/Large Catechism? What's that!?!). This knowledge of the Lutheran B-A-S-I-C-S was completely foreign to me even though I was baptized, confirmed, and married in an LCMS church! So, there are some entries that are a little more "out there" so-to-speak since the subject matter was also heavily influenced by those old beliefs of mine. I know that now and I'm still learning. Anyway, I decided to leave those published posts up on this website and in cyberspace only because they are not blasphemous/heretical demanding I correct them or take them down entirely, but because I now have this disclaimer, and only to demonstrate the continuing work of Christ and the Holy Spirit in my life (Hebrews 12:2; Philippians 1:6). Most importantly, please know that any time I engage in commenting on and/or interpreting a specific portion of the holy Scriptures, it will always closely follow the verse-by-verse footnotes from my Lutheran Study Bible and/or include references to the Book of Concord unless otherwise noted. Typically, I will defer to what other Lutheran Pastors both past and present have already preached and taught about such passages since they are the called and ordained under-shepherds of our souls here on earth. Finally, I'm going to apologize ahead of time for the length of most entries (this disclaimer/note is a perfect example of what I mean by that! haha). I'm well aware that blogs should be short, sweet, and to the point, but I've never been one to follow the rules when it comes to writing. Besides, this website is more like a "Christian Dude's Diary" in the sense that everything I write about and share publicly isn't always what's "popular" or "#Trending" at the time, but is instead all the things that I'm studying myself at the moment. For better or for worse, these posts tend to be much longer than most blog entries you'll find elsewhere only because I try to pack as much info as possible into a single piece so that I can refer to it again and again over time if I need to (and so that it can be a valuable resource for others -- if possible, a "One-Stop-Shop" of sorts). Thank you for stopping by and thank you in advance for your time, help, and understanding. Feel free to comment/email me at any time. Grace and peace to you and yours!