Proclaim a Solemn Assembly
Over the past couple of weeks I’ve heard various friends and colleagues express their suspicions regarding the timing of the Coronavirus pandemic, surfacing as it has in the midst of this election year. Some have suggested that the virus may have been manufactured and deliberately released, whereas others have felt that the whole situation has been hyped and overblown for the purpose of undermining President Trump’s administration. To be sure, sadly but not at all surprisingly, there are surely many people attempting to politicize the pandemic to their own advantage.
I’ve had my own cynical suspicions along these lines, especially early on. But for the past week or two, as the serious potential of this pandemic has become more clear, I have found the timing to be poignant and significant in quite a different way. Here in the United States the emergence and development of the virus have coincided with the Season of Lent. And as the restrictions on public gatherings and groups of people have gotten tighter, to the point that many churches have suspended services to varying degrees (along with many other ancillary activities), the words of the Prophet Joel with which Lent began on Ash Wednesday keep echoing in my mind:
“Blow a trumpet in Zion, consecrate a fast, proclaim a solemn assembly, gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children and the nursing infants. Let the priests, the Lord’s ministers, weep between the porch and the Altar, and let them say, ‘Spare Your people, O Lord, and do not make Your inheritance a reproach, a byword among the nations’" (Joel 2).
To respond to danger and disaster by distancing ourselves from one another, and to forego the gathering together of the Church in solemn assembly, is counterintuitive to both faith and love. Ordinarily, the Christians flee, not from, but to the Lord’s Altar, in order to call upon His Name, to offer the sweet incense of prayer and intercession through Jesus Christ, our Lord and merciful great High Priest, and to partake in the fellowship of His Sacrifice in the Supper of His Body and Blood. Yet, the threat of the Covid-19 pandemic has begun to result in exactly the opposite.
My point is not to offer any criticism of those pastors and congregations that have made the decision to suspend services for the sake of protecting their neighbors. In many cases, that has been exactly the right course of action, and I have counseled and encouraged several brothers in office to do so because of their particular circumstances and situation. It is surely not an easy decision to make, as we are torn between the importance, necessity, urgency, and value of the Gospel and the care and concern that we owe to our neighbors in the frailty of this body and life. So much will depend upon the location and size of the congregation and the age and health of the membership. There are no clean and simple, easy and obvious answers, so we do the best we can in the fear and faith of God, in fervent love for one another.
The very fact that pastors and congregations should be faced with such a dilemma and should have to make such decisions is a reminder that Satan prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Not only does he viciously assault and hurt the body, but he attacks and accuses the consciences of God’s people, pastors and parishioners both, and he would rob them altogether of the comfort, consolation, and support of the Church and Ministry of the Gospel. It is no surprise, of course, that the devil attacks the people of God in both body and soul, in heart, mind, and conscience, for so the Holy Scriptures and our Lutheran Confessions have warned us. We take to heart, therefore, the need for constant prayer to our Lord against that old evil foe.
With that in mind, I have considered the way that God’s people have responded to calamities, disasters, pestilence, and plagues, both in the Holy Scriptures (as in Joel 2) and throughout the history of the Church on earth. It has certainly been with prayer and petition to the Lord, but not only against the assaults and accusations of the devil, and not only for preservation from the enemies of the Church, but with repentance and fasting, and for mercy and forgiveness. In the face of evil and all manner of suffering, the Church collectively and Christians individually call upon the Name of the Lord to withdraw His chastisement and discipline, acknowledging that we have daily sinned much in our thoughts, words, and deeds, and that we surely deserve nothing but punishment for our many sins. We recognize the hand of the Lord in that which we bear and suffer, not as though He were intent on casting us away from His presence, but because He is our Father who disciplines His children in love (Hebrews 10:4–11); and because He calls the nations to repentance, also, that they might cease from their wicked ways and not die but live. In that sense, I am persuaded that the looming threat of this current pandemic is as much from the Lord as it is from the devil.
It’s not really an either-or, in any case. Despite his wickedness and ill intentions, the devil is but a creature, himself. Satan is not a god but a fallen angel, with only as much leash and leeway as the Lord permits and tolerates. As Luther has described, he is “God’s devil,” ultimately serving the Lord’s purposes — against his own evil designs — as we see, for example, in the case of Job.
Now, to be sure, we dare not presume to identify any particular event as a specific judgment or punishment of God — as the book of Job also teaches us rather pointedly. However, the various trials and tribulations of this body and life are always a call to repentance, whether it is we who are suffering or others (St. Luke 13:1–9). And repentance entails, not only sorrow and contrition for our sins, amendment of life, and self-discipline, but also fervent prayer in the confidence of faith, in the hope of God’s grace and mercy toward us for the sake of Jesus Christ. Thus do we lift up our heads and rejoice that our Redemption is drawing near.
It is also the case that, as we fear, love, and trust in God as the Maker and Preserver of all things; as we confess that all things are in His care and keeping, and that all things work together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose; as we acknowledge that we shall do this or that, tomorrow or the next day, only as “God so wills” (James 4:13–15); and as we believe that He shall judge the living and the dead at the time He has appointed — so do we also believe, teach, and confess that He orders and governs His entire Kingdom of Power, all of Creation, for the benefit of His Church. And His providential care includes the chastisement of unbelief, idolatry, and sin, the call to daily repentance, and the discipline of His children in love. After all, “Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?” (Job 2:10). And along the same lines, do we not also sing with Paul Gerhardt:
“When life’s troubles rise to meet me, though their weight may be great, they will not defeat me. God, my loving Savior, sends them; He who knows all my woes knows how best to end them.
“God gives me my days of gladness, and I will trust Him still when He sends me sadness. God is good; His love attends me day by day, come what may, guides me and defends me” (LSB 756, stanzas 2-3).
It has certainly been interesting and eye-opening for me, in this regard, to consider Dr. Luther’s Lectures on Genesis, which we’ve been studying at Emmaus over the past few years. What he says regarding the Flood and Sodom and Gomorrah, in particular, has been very instructive and sobering, not only with respect to those historical events, but with application to the Church and to the world throughout all the ages. Dr. Luther certainly does not discount the discipline and judgment of God. Of course, Christians do not despair in the face of disaster, for they know the grace and forgiveness of God in Christ Jesus. But they are humbled, and they repent of their sins. For the Lord both kills and makes alive. He wounds in order to heal. He chastens and restores.
If we consider the current state of affairs within our own country, we ought not be surprised that God should lay His discipline and chastisement upon us. We live within a climate and a culture that have, increasingly in recent years, promoted sexual perversity and celebrated infanticide both within and outside of the womb — sins not only contrary to the Holy Scriptures but against nature itself. In that light, the surprising and apparently somewhat mysterious fact that young children are far less susceptible to Covid-19, and far less at risk from the virus than adults are, causes me to believe that our Lord has thereby exercised and demonstrated His mercy toward those little ones who have been so avoided, aborted, and abused by this perverse and evil generation. The adults who were brought out of Egypt by His mighty arm and outstretched hand were almost entirely laid to waste in the wilderness because of their rebellion, idolatry, and disobedience, whereas their children were brought into the Good Land that God had promised to the Seed of Abraham.
It is not only that the world is chastised for its unbelief, idolatry, and wicked perversions, but the people of God are likewise disciplined and called to repentance. I am reminded, for example, of Dr. Luther’s warnings for the German people of his day, that if they continued to despise and ignore God’s Word and the preaching of it, the Lord would send such a famine of His Word that they would long to hear and learn it but would not be able to find it. In a day and age when even many would-be Christians are rather cavalier and apathetic about going to church, and so often absent themselves from the Divine Service on the Lord’s Day, whether for no particular reason at all, or because they prioritize their sports and entertainment, their rest and relaxation, it may be that the Lord is disciplining His children by giving them a big “Time Out” from all of the above, that He might teach them to hunger and thirst for His Word and Sacrament, for His Kingdom and His righteousness, and to give thanks for all His good gifts and benefits of body and soul. Thus does He bring them to their knees, that they should learn again to pray and to be exalted in the Cross and Resurrection of Christ.
In any case, the crisis and potential calamity that face us and our neighbors at the present time are as much a call to repentance, fasting, and prayer as the Season of Lent; for no amount of science or medicine will be able to stay the Lord’s hand, but only His providential care and mercy toward His wayward children and all His creatures. If we disciplined ourselves, we would not need to be disciplined by the Lord. But when we have learned from His fatherly discipline to call upon His Name, then we shall be saved according to His promise (Romans 10; James 1). Therefore, let us pray without ceasing and not lose heart. As Luther teaches in the Large Catechism, it is the faithful and fervent prayer of Christians, according to the Lord’s Word and promise, that prevents the devil from destroying everything.
Of course, the world has no more regard for prayer than it does for the discipline of the Lord. So was Vice President Pence mocked for praying in connection with his work on the Coronavirus, as though it were ignorant and useless to do so. And there were mixed reactions when President Trump called for a National Day of Prayer, though past presidents have also done precisely that in response to various tragedies and hardships confronting our nation. The very fact that such things should be despised is yet another indication of the prevailing circumstances for which the Lord should rightly exercise His “tough love” and the “harsh mercy” of His discipline upon us.
Along with repentance, fasting, and prayer, the Season of Lent also reminds us of (and renews us in) that other fundamental Christian discipline and virtue of almsgiving — that is, the gifts of charity for those in need, above and beyond our basic tithes in support of the Church and Ministry of the Gospel. And in the face of the economic woes that are very likely to face many of our neighbors and our communities and nation collectively, there will surely be an increased need for such almsgiving. Which is also among my reasons for seeing the hand of the Lord in the crisis and calamity that confront us. For His chastisement and discipline aim not to destroy us but to rescue us from every plan and purpose of the devil, the world, and our own sinful flesh, and to conform us to the cruciform Image of the incarnate Son. As always, it is by the Cross that our dear Lord bears good fruits after His own kind, not only for us, but so also in us.
Whether the Covid-19 pandemic is an assault of the devil and/or a chastisement and discipline of the Lord — I am inclined to regard it as both — and regardless of what wicked and self-serving people may try to make of it (whether for political or economic gain), the Lord will surely cause all things to work together for the good of His Kingdom, for His Church, and for His people. So shall He call us to repentance, renew and strengthen our faith in Him, teach us again how to pray and confess His Word, bless us with the privilege of bearing His Cross, and provide us with the opportunity to glorify His holy Name in charity and love for our neighbors in the world.
Even so, it is not for the sake of our efforts and improvements, but according to His own loving-kindness, mercy, and compassion, for Christ Jesus’ sake, that the Lord will determine the ending of this pandemic at the proper time. We are given a beautiful example of that in 1 Chronicles 21, where the Lord halted the plague that He had sent when His destroying angel reached Jerusalem:
“The Lord sent a pestilence on Israel; 70,000 men of Israel fell. And God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it; but as he was about to destroy it, the Lord saw and was sorry over the calamity, and said to the destroying angel, ‘It is enough; now relax your hand.’ And the Angel of the Lord was standing by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
“Then David lifted up his eyes and saw the Angel of the Lord standing between earth and heaven, with His drawn sword in His hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, covered with sackcloth, fell on their faces. David said to God, ‘O Lord my God, please let Your hand be against me and my father’s household, but not against Your people that they should be plagued.’
“Then the Angel of the Lord commanded Gad to say to David, that David should go up and build an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. So David built an altar to the Lord there and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. And he called to the Lord and He answered him with fire from heaven on the altar of burnt offering. So the Lord commanded the Angel, and He put His sword back in its sheath” (1 Chronicles 21).
It is surely in view of the coming sacrifice of the Son of David on the outskirts of Jerusalem that the Lord remembers His mercy and relents from His fierce anger. For there, indeed, the Christ who is both David’s Son and David’s Lord lays down His own body and life for all of us poor sinners, interposing Himself between us and the divine wrath and punishment that we deserve, being wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities. Upon Him has thus fallen the chastisement that belonged to us all, so that by His stripes we are healed. And not only has He offered Himself, once for all, for our Atonement, Redemption, and Sanctification; but He is also the Peace Offering, that we might eat and drink the Fruits of His Sacrifice, His Body and Blood, in Communion with the Lord, the one true God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. For so has He left behind a Grain Offering and a Drink Offering for His people (Joel 2:14), that we might be spared from all the evil that has come upon us, and that we should be saved by His mighty deliverance. See, His Blood now marks our door, and death’s dread angel sheathes his sword.
As King David built an Altar and prayed and sacrificed there in the teeth of the plague, in repentance and faith, in the hope and confidence of the Lord’s mercy, so let us also do as the Apostle St. Paul has admonished us, offering prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings for the sake of Him who gave Himself up for us all (1 Timothy 2:1–6). For He most assuredly desires that all men should come to repentance and the knowledge of the truth. And we know that, in Christ Jesus, God’s answer to all our prayers and all our needs is always “Yes” and “Amen,” as sure and certain as His Resurrection from the dead.
Therefore, in the confidence that He will restore and preserve the gathering together of His holy people in the solemn assembly of His great congregation, “let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.” And all the more so as that Day is drawing near, “let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful” (Hebrews 10:22–23).