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Rob Tennant, Hillside Church, Chapel Hill, NC
Lent 4 – Sunday, March 22, 2020
*This message will be broadcast by Facebook and Instagram Live
and posted to Youtube, but will not be preached to a live audience. We – America, the world – are in the midst of
the COVID-19 crisis which is causing people all over the world to avoid gathering
in groups of larger than 10, and diligently maintain “social distance.” It’s an effort to curb the rapid, worldwide
spread of the Corona virus which can be deadly.
Jesus did not practice good “social
distancing” at all! He spits and then,
with some mud, rubs it right in the guy’s eyes!
How many times in the midst of this Corona Virus crisis have we been
told to maintain a safe 6-foot distance between ourselves and others? How many times have we been told not to touch
our eyes? Jesus rubs his own spit in
another guy’s eyes!
Ephesians 5 could not be
clearer. Verse 1, “be imitators of
God.” Verse 8, “Live as children of the
light.” What do we do? Imitate Jesus, or listen to public health
officials? Ephesians 5:6 says, “Let no
one deceive you with empty words.” Are
the empty words from everyone worried about COVID-19? Is it as simple as trusting in the Lord?
Of course we must trust in the Lord
with all our hearts. Of course we must
not rely on our own understanding. The
Lord will make straight our paths. We
must also practice our faith with wisdom and discernment. I’ll tell you what would be deceptive, empty
speech. The person who says, “Jesus spat
in the blind man’s face, so we can too!
Don’t worry about this Corona nonsense.
God’s got this.” The person
saying that is a liar and deceiver.
Yes,
God has the world in His hands. Yes, God
is bigger than the Corona Virus. Yes,
Jesus performed miraculous healings. We
don’t know why in one case, he spits on the ground and rubs mud in the blind
man’s eye, and in another in another story he heals a royal official’s son who
lays dying an entire city away. More
than just appropriate social distance, in that case Jesus heals over a
significant distance. Why can he do
that, but then with this blind guy, he needs to rub spit and mud in his
eyes? We don’t know. There’s no science to miracles, only
faith. So, we shouldn’t try to repeat
miracles the way scientists repeat experiments in the lab.
Rather
than try to itemize lessons we glean from Jesus’ actions, might we grow more if
we enter the story and allow the stories of Jesus to fill the stories of our
lives? He loved this blind man who had
been rejected from community worship and blamed for his blindness. Who around us is rejected? Who do we know who has been blamed, rightly
or unjustifiably? How can we, like our
Lord, welcome the one who’s been rejected?
One
of the core teachings through out Ephesians is the movement from darkness to
light. Sin leads us to satisfy our own
cravings without regard for the wellbeing of those around us. I will satiate my lusts, at your
expense. If I need sex, I’ll use you for
it without any care for your soul or your humanity. If I fear going hungry, I’ll hoard food,
watch you starve, and feel happy that I am full.
That’s
living in darkness. I am driven by my
greed. If I realize that sanitary wipes
and hand sanitizer will become an essential item for people’s health, I’ll buy
it all up and then sell it at 100 times its worth. I’ll do the same with toilet
paper and any other essential item.
People need these things, so they’ll pay whatever I charge. If they can’t, no problem for me. I’ll sell to the few rich who can. And then I’ll be rich myself!
If
I need to get my party on, I’m going to the bar with all my friends. I don’t care that the CDC has urged that
places where the public gathers be shut down.
I am not in one of the high-risk groups.
I could even get the virus and I probably wouldn’t get very sick. Besides, I think the (insert the political party
you hate here); I think the ____ party is just hyping this anyway.
Where
Ephesians 5:8 says, “once you were in darkness,” this is what is meant by
‘darkness.’ At the end of John 9, the
conclusion of the episode of Jesus and the blind man, he says, “I came into the
world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see
may become blind.” Those who do see,
as he describes them, are those who think they have it altogether. In John 9, it was Pharisees who thought they
already had a handle on who God is and what God requires. They could never receive grace because in
their sense of their own rightness, they couldn’t see that they needed it. So, they remained in darkness.
When
we fail to see how desperately we need the grace God gives in Jesus, we too
remain in darkness. Hoarding of
essential goods or ignoring warnings from public health experts are examples
from the current crisis of people willfully staying in the dark. When this crisis passes, people will just as
willfully ignore their need for God. But
the world won’t pay attention because the world is dying in sin, determined to
shut God out. The COVID-19 crisis does
heighten the darkness of the world, but really, the world is always in darkness. Confession and repentance are Lenten
practices we undergo every year because we need to. Confession and repentance are normal parts of
the lives of Christ-followers, because sin constantly tempts in order to lock
us all in a deadly vice grip.
Look
again, however, at what Ephesians 5:8 says.
Once we were in darkness. But
what has happened? In Jesus, God has
walked the dusty pathways and highways of the earth; God in human flesh. Through his words, actions, and relationship,
Jesus teaches us how to live, how to love.
In his death, Jesus takes on himself the darkness. The sins of the toilet paper hoarder and the
hand sanitizer hoarder are nailed to the cross.
The sinful words you hurled at your family members as cabin fever has
driven you to madness are nailed to the cross.
On the cross, Jesus takes our darkness on himself and defeats it. In resurrection, he shines the light of
eternal life. Once we were in darkness, but,
says Ephesians 5:8, “now in the Lord, [we] are in the light.”
The
change has happened. We are born again,
new creations, adopted sons and daughters of God. Verse 8 goes on to say, “Live as children of
the light – for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right
and true.” From the time we give our hearts to Jesus and commit to living under
His lordship, the resurrection is our story.
How
does the resurrection play out in a Coronavirus America?
I
urge that we use the technology available to share God’s love. Spread love on Facebook. Don’t use Facebook? Spread God’s love on Instagram. Are you like me and don’t use Instagram
much? Spread God’s love on Twitter? Or through emails. Or through texts.
And
call people. Social distancing prevents
in-person contact, but we can still hear each other’s voices. I urge every Hillside Church member and
attendee to call at least two people you know from church. If we all do that everyone will have two conversations
with their brothers and sisters in Christ today. It doesn’t have to be long. Call someone and ask, “How are you
doing?” “How can I pray for you?” That’s enough to let them know you care for
them and to inform your prayers for them.
If we all do this, no one will go untouched.
If
you need numbers or contact info, let me know.
I’ll help connect you with your church family so we can be actively
praying for one another. Ephesians 5:10
says “Try to find out what is pleasing to the Lord.” I guarantee you the Lord is pleased when we
express love for one another and when we pray for each other and encourage each
other. And because we live in an age of
countless ways of connecting, social distancing does not need to mean
isolation.
Another
way we can live in the light as resurrection people in the age of the Corona
Virus is volunteering. Observing correct
social distancing protocols, you can volunteer either with our church food
pantry or with one of the sites that provide daily lunches for Chapel Hill
Carrboro City Schools students who rely on school lunches. COVID-19 does not need to mean people go
hungry. You can help us get food to
people who need it. Contact me or my
wife Candy or our ministry assistant Dina for ways you can give of your time to
these ministries.
Finally,
our stories are marked by prayer. Call
someone and pray for them over the phone.
Set aside time every day to pray – prayers in which you praise God;
prayers of confession and repentance; prayers in which you pray for our
community and our world, and prayers of thanks for the ways God has blessed
you. Join our Thursday night prayer
group on the Zoom calls, every Thursday night at 7PM. Contact Beth Roberts or Hong Zhou for more
information on how to join those calls.
If you don’t know how to get in touch with Beth or Hong, contact me and
I’ll get you their information.
By
the way, I’ve several times in the closing of this message invited you to
contact me. My number is
919-357-0211. If you text, me, identify
yourself in case I don’t have your number in my phone. My email address is Robert.j.tennant70@gmail.com.
The
story of our time is the way the Corona Virus has hit the entire world. But, we are no longer in darkness. Because Jesus has come, we walk in the
light. We live out the Corona Virus
story as children of God, resurrection people.
The story then becomes what all stories are for us: a story in which we
stand in the light of Christ.
AMEN
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