Sermon on the Pandemic

We all know the news of our day. There is quite a bit of panic over the virus that has swept the world. Runs on supplies. Stocks tanking. Schools, sports, and even countries have shut down. People of Facebook and Twitter are afraid.

I get it. It’s a bit of a scary time. Even if you’re healthy and at no real risk, you could unwittingly be a carrier and expose someone who is vulnerable. It’s why I don’t blame businesses for telling people to work from home and sports leagues from shutting down. Some schools have closed. And while I don’t like it, I understand and am not going to complain about hospitals and nursing homes closing their doors to everyone except the patients, residents, and staff. They are rightly protecting their patients and residents. Let us hope and pray that this does not get to the point that they force everything, including churches, to close their doors as happened with the 1918 flu epidemic.

The impact on everyone is yet to be known. But even though many won’t be severely affected, they are worried. The more common fear for most is that a loved one will be. And worse, that they could accidentally expose them because they didn’t know they were infected. It is my hope and prayer that this passes quickly. That the death toll is as low as possible. That sanity returns and runs on things like toilet paper and soap quickly end. But in the meantime, we wait and watch for the next announcement.

I get the concern among many. But that said, plague and pestilence are not new. It has afflicted humanity since the Fall. During the late 1500s, the Black Plague devastated Europe. One pastor in Germany, Phillip Nicolai, lost around 1300 of his members from it. He lost 170 in a single week. His response to the tragedy was not fear, panic, and running away. It was to write a series of meditations and a couple of hymns for his flock, one of which you know: “Wake, Awake, for Night is Flying.“

There’s no indication we are up against anything like that. But picture something like that did come at us today. What would be our reaction? Surely there would be panic in the streets, but what about us? What about the Church? We could turn to the Introit appointed for today:

“My eyes are ever toward the Lord,
for he will pluck my feet out of the net.
Turn to me and be gracious to me,
for I am lonely and afflicted.”

This is not a text only for widespread sickness, but for any time of trial. It is for when you are being attacked and amid temptation. For when you have succumbed to your temptation and find yourself lamenting your sin. This is the text for you.

To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
O my God, in you I trust;
let me not be put to shame;
Consider my affliction and my trouble,
and forgive all my sins.
Oh, guard my soul, and deliver me!
Let me not be put to shame,
for I take refuge in you.

In the portion of the Psalm we hear today we hear several petitions of prayer. David prays for victory, for forgiveness, for deliverance. Not included in the appointed reading are petitions for teaching and redemption.

In times of trial and tribulation; in times of sickness, pandemic, and distress; the Christian response is to repent and call out to our Heavenly Father. We call out to him and recognize our sin. We repent of our sin. We plea for forgiveness. That he would clean us of our sin. And that, having his perfect absolution, we are freed to serve our neighbor, as did Pr. Nicolai. Knowing the love and grace of God, he stood up in the face of death all around him and proclaimed the Good News of Jesus Christ to those around him. Especially those dying of the Plague.

While sickness among us will drive us to realize our own human frailties, the early church used this Sunday in Lent as the day of renunciation of the devil and the exorcisms of the catechumens. This is the day that men and women with battles raging in them and outside of them confessed that Christ will be their God. Even if it means rejection of their livelihoods or exile from their families. This is the day they announced their step out of the darkness of sin and the rule of Satan and into the light and service of the Lord Jesus.

Born in sin, we are essentially the goods of the strong man; of the devil. He has claimed us and guards us as his property, waiting for our eternal destruction. But the heart of Lent, the heart of the Gospel, is that God has kept his promise to Adam and Eve in the garden. He has sent the Seed in Jesus Christ. And he is the stronger man. He comes and attacks the devil, crushing his head. He takes away the goods that the devil has stolen from God and stored up as his own.

This happens for all men at the cross. And it is applied to you at your baptism. There, at the font, the Holy Spirit makes your body his holy temple. At baptism, the unclean spirit goes out of the person, and the Holy Spirit makes the body holy. Your bodies, death brothers and sisters, are not an empty house, swept and put into order. Your bodies are a holy temple of God. Your state is not worse than before, but it is eternally better.

Perhaps our cleansed bodies are what makes it [somewhat] easier in times such as these. For we know that our God is not only just, but he is also merciful. We know that his mercy extends to all, but especially to us as his adopted children. This is why we may, at all times, call out to him with our eyes ever toward him. Why we may turn to him in every trouble, trial, and temptation, putting our trust in him and knowing he will not put us to shame. Rather, he will continue to have mercy on us in peril and pestilence; forgive and cleanse us of our sins.

But those who still belong to the strong man fear, and fear greatly. They see peril and pestilence as a potential real and present harm to them. And it is. Not only to their flesh but to their souls. And so, we pray not only for ourselves but for those far from our merciful God. We lift not only ourselves up in our affliction, but also our neighbor who fears and is far from Christ. We pray for their physical safety and that the Light of Christ would reach them, cleanse them as he has cleansed us, and send to them the Holy Spirit who would make them his holy temple as he has done with us.

We don’t know how long or how bad this pandemic will be. We don’t know if we will contract it. If a friend or loved one will. And if we or they do, how severe the case will be. We don’t know what restrictions will be placed on us by the authorities, which, I remind you, that God himself has put in place.

But we do know some things. We know that our Lord Jesus Christ took upon our flesh to free us from the strong man. We know he paid for our sins on the cross, bleeding and dying to win victory over the strong man. We know that he has cleansed our bodies from all evil and sent the Holy Spirit to live in us and sanctify us. We know that we are always able to cry out to God in all situations and tell him whatever is on our mind. And when we do, we know that he will hear us and answer our prayer in the way that benefits our eternal good. O my God, in you I trust…Oh, guard my soul, and deliver me!…for I take refuge in you.

Rev. Brent Keller 
Peace Lutheran Church 
Alcester, SD  

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