Message from Tim

Covid-19 and the authority of Jesus

Jesus said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me’ (Mt. 28:18). In the grip of the coronavirus pandemic, with hundreds of people dying every day and the country in lockdown, do we find those words comforting or disturbing? To what extent is Covid-19 under his control?

Theologians draw a distinction between God’s active and permissive will: God ordains that some things should happen, and he allows other things to happen. If someone dies from the virus, is that God’s ‘good, pleasing and perfect will’ for them (Rom. 12:2)? If so, why try to contain the virus at all? Understanding how a pandemic works means that we have moved beyond ascribing such misfortunes to the inscrutable will of God. We can be grateful for scientific explanations of how the virus developed and how it spreads.
Yet if Jesus is Lord, why do we have the virus? We need to recognise that although he reigns now, the day is yet to come when every enemy is made subject to him, and the last enemy to be destroyed is death (1 Cor. 15:25- 26). One day, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord (Phil. 2:11): that is God’s ultimate, unshakeable purpose. Meanwhile we grapple with the reality that here and now death is still at large in our world.

That does not mean that God has temporarily lost control of the situation. Covid-19 did not catch him by surprise: he knew it was coming. God could snap his fingers and stop the virus in its tracks, but within the scope of his overall sovereignty, God has given us the gift of freedom, and he has done so because it was always part of his plan and purpose that we should be agents who cooperate with his Spirit to bring order into chaos, and in a fallen and damaged world to bring healing, peace and life.

So we pray for NHS workers, and carers, and scientists, and all those working on the front line for good. And in our own small way we can all play our part as we learn how to be emotionally close to people while we are physically distant from them.

And because all authority has been given to Jesus, we do this with confidence, knowing that whatever we face, whatever we go through, he is with us every single day (Mt 28:20), and because he is in charge, we do not need to be afraid.