Yesterday, I posted on what I was learning from Walter Brueggemann's book on the current pandemic. N.T. Wright came out with a book right around the same time. Besides focusing on the New Testament, which is his field of expertise, Wright's book also attempts to step back and take a broader theological view of the moment. Like everything Wright does, it was worth the time to read and reflect on.
Three Things I Learned from N.T. Wright in God and the Pandemic: A Christian Reflection on the Coronavirus and Its Aftermath (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2020).
(1) The Summons to Repentance Comes Through Jesus not Events
Early on, after the virus had begun to have a global impact, I saw a number of Christian writers and pastors attempting to fit the pandemic into some kind of prophetic framework or end times strategy. It is not usual for people to try to find meaning or purpose (or even someone to blame) for the pain and upheaval the virus has caused by interpreting it through the lens of the plagues upon Pharaoh or the prophetic punishments connected to exile upon Israel. Although this might be a natural response, Wright is not sure this approach is theologically warranted or pastorally helpful.
As Wright correctly (I believe) and helpfully points out, for Christians, the ultimate and fullest revelation of God’s will and nature is the person of Jesus. For Wright, no further revelation is necessary to (a) reveal God’s self nor to (b) call us to repentance and transformation. Wright puts it this way, “Of course, again, God can do whatever God wants. If he wants to draw things to people’s attention in a special way, that is up to him… But this is not the norm. It is not what we should expect… From now on, the summons to repentance, and the announcement of God’s kingdom on earth as in heaven, come not through wars, earthquakes, famines or plagues… They come through Jesus. Through the story of Jesus himself, told, preached, announced; through the people of Jesus, the people in whose lives Jesus himself lives by his Spirit; through the strange work of Jesus even in parts of the world where his name is not recognized. If God wants to alert us to things that are wrong in the way we have been running the world – and that seems to me highly likely – they will come to us Jesus-shaped” (p. 22-23).
(2) Lament and Suffering Includes a Call to Work
Wright, like Brueggemann, makes space for groaning as part of the coming of the new creation. Interestingly, Romans 8 is an important place of reflection for both of them. Wright, however, is concerned that Christians not interpret Romans 8:28 (“…in all things God works together for the good…”) as advocating Christians live into some form of Stoic resignation. He is fearful that if we over interpret the pandemic as from the hand of God or as part of a cosmic divine plan that is headed toward ultimate good, that although we may groan and suffer, we will not allow those labor pains to lead toward action. In other words, for Wright it is problematic to say or believe that God created the pandemic crisis in order that some good might occur. However, if we look to God and respond to the call to work toward his purposes, even out of this horrible and destructive pandemic, God might bring about things that are good and redemptive.
There is, therefore, something divine about those who have worked (and are still working) diligently to aid the sick, discover a cure, and bring aid to those in need. Romans 8:28 is not a promise that everything will simply work out in the end without us. It is, however, a promise that those who live into vocations or callings in line with God’s purposes are assured that God will be at work with them, and in them, bringing about his new creation purposes.
(3) Live Wisely and Participate (Humbly) with Those Who Mourn
As I have shared elsewhere, one of my favorite excerpts from Wright’s book is a quote he uses from a letter of Martin Luther’s when he too was faced with leading people through a plague or pandemic five centuries ago. This quote has been a great help for me as we have tried to weight all of the different decisions about gathering or not gathering in person as a church. Although Luther thinks God’s hand may be at work in the disease, he advocates for Christians to live practically and faithfully. Luther writes:
With God’s permission the enemy has sent poison and deadly dung among us, and so I will pray to God that he may be gracious and preserve us. Then I will fumigate to purify the air, give and take medicine, and avoid places and persons where I am not needed in order that I may not abuse myself and that through me others may not be infected and inflamed with the result that I become the cause of their death through my negligence. If God wishes to take me, he will be able to find me. At least I have done what he gave me to do and am responsible neither for my own death nor for the death of others. But if my neighbour needs me, I shall avoid neither person nor place but feel free to visit and help him (p. 63).
This moment has not exempted the church from the sufferings of our neighbors around us. If anything, it should have given us a moment to recognize our common human fragility. Unfortunately, the church has not always embodied that humility or that care for neighbor. Both Wright and Brueggemann reflect on Israel and Judah’s exile in the light of the current moment. For both, these months of exile-ish living have reminded us that the church building and the opportunity to gather is not unessential to our Christian journeys. When we are not able to gather there is a great deal that is lost and worth grieving in its absence. However, these months have also taught us that God’s people are much more than a building and that we are tied to Christ and to one another in ways that can endure times of separation.
Since both great scholars lean so heavily on Romans 8, perhaps it is important to note that Paul’s great chapter ends with the affirmation that nothing in all creation - not life, not death, and not pandemics - can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Like most, I am hopeful that in a few months the major burdens and pains of this pandemic will be behind us. However, I am also certain that this moment has not separated us from the love of God, nor hopefully from the love of one another. And I am prayerfully hopeful that these months have not just been moments of pain-filled groans but, as we seek God's purposes, they have also served as birth-pangs of the newness that God desires to bring about through his people.
Thanks for these timely insights, Scott. Very helpful.
Posted by: Fred Fullerton | December 17, 2020 at 05:48 PM