How quickly things can change in life. Especially if you’re a human being. Because humans have all kinds of sophisticated systems and mechanisms and customs that usually enable them to control their existence. But suddenly, everything’s in disarray. For a great many humans, work has stopped. Schools have shut. People must stay indoors. Supermarket shelves are bare. Hugs, kisses and handshakes are banned. And for many, money, -that primary driving-force in human life -has become very scarce. In the short-term at least, humanity is no longer in control of its destiny. And so a great many people are frightened. Very frightened indeed.
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And yet, in some ways, nothing’s really changed. Because none of us have ever had total control over our final destiny. It’s just that we liked to think we had. Daily systems, routines, and modern technology have offered comfort and some security, but they have also served as rather flimsy “wrappers” hiding the fact that we are all vulnerable. Vulnerable to illness, hard times, and ultimately to death itself. Humanity has never been as self-sufficient as it liked to believe. And in these terrible times of Coronavirus, this is especially true for the elderly, the weak, the vulnerable and the sick.
But you know, this is also a time when the words of Jesus can come to life in our lives. Perhaps more vividly than ever before. Because time and time again in the Gospels, Jesus reminds us all that we are never abandoned during our times of suffering, and that we all have the promise of Heaven:
“Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.” (Luke 6: 20-21).
And it seems that the tougher our existence here upon Earth, the more our case is prioritised in Heaven:
“So the last will be first, and the first will be last.” (Matthew 20:16)
When Jesus encountered the Samaritan woman at the well, He told her that her water would only sustain her for a day. But His “Living Water” will sustain for eternity:
“Jesus answered: ‘Everyone who drinks this (well) water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:13)
We will always have to ride out challenges and storms during our time here on Earth. And some of them, like the Coronavirus epidemic, won’t be easy. But because Jesus died on the cross for every one of us, we have all been given the ultimate insurance policy of a wonderful existence in Heaven if we choose to accept it.
In a parrot nutshell, Jesus gives us all light at the end of the tunnel.
So, I’m going to leave you this week with the words of the medieval theologian, Julian of Norwich. In her famous book “Revelations of Divine Love,” she writes:
“All shall be well. All shall be well. Every manner of things shall be well.”
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