#2 – Grim Days
“And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me, that you also may be where I am.”
John 14:3 NIV
Each afternoon I sit down in front of the television to seek to understand the figures of public transport, hospital admissions and deaths caused by the coronavirus. Arguments over validity don’t mean anything – we are in a crisis and a medical solution is some way off. Lives will continue to be lost even as curves flatten and it looks as if the worst might be coming to an end. Having never lost my freedom criminally or politically I find it hard to be socially restricted when liberty is a valued mark of a democratic society but I have to accept it. Getting away from my own feelings there are serious issues for so many people in caring, finance, employment, education and emotions caused by this coronavirus. The sudden arrival and rate of infection has caused shortages and we are all living in a world that is unsettling and threatening.
Six days before the Passover Jesus was at Bethany at the home of Lazarus whom Jesus had most recently raised from the dead. They were feasting and celebrating. Then there was the triumphal entry into Jerusalem. We with hindsight can see through scripture the dangers beginning to develop but honestly on the ground the only one who could see the way the days would unfold was Jesus. We can be frustrated with the disciples but that is the point, they were just as fallible as we are. They couldn’t believe that somebody could choose to do what Jesus did. As the events unfolded following the Passover meal things quickly ran away both literally and metaphorically and darkness descended. The grim days of the passion narrative were planned to bring about our salvation, the cost enormous and the means horrific. When we look back after the coronavirus we will see freedom but a changed world. Will it be more caring, loving and equitable than it was before or will normal life resume?
“Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by?”