Covid–19 and the Wrath of God

Someone asked me the other day if Covid-19 is the wrath of God against sinners. The question reminded me of another man who sat across the table from me one morning and asked if 9/11 was the wrath of God against gays.” Both questions sent me to a situation Luke mentions in his Gospel. 

Some folks had come to Jesus asking about “certain Galilean Jews whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices” (Luke 13:1). It seems that Pilate’s troops had surrounded and slaughtered a number of visiting Galileans as they were worshipping in the temple. We know nothing about the massacre, but it’s in keeping with what we do know of Pilate’s character. 

Jesus’ answer was wholly unexpected: “Do you think these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish” (Luke 13:2-5).

These folks thought that these tragedies must be God’s wrath on a certain set of god-awful sinners. They perished in their own sins. “No,” Jesus replied, “Unless you repent you toowill perish in your sin.” Jesus’ answer laid their hearts bare. 

We, like the folks who brought this question to Jesus, are fixed on first causes: When folks suffer catastrophe we reckon that they must deserve it. But personal tragedy is no more an indication of wrong-doing then the absence of tragedy is an indication of personal righteousness. Whether our lives are tragic or tranquil we are all, as Martin Luther insisted, “dust and ashes and full of sin.” And all of us are in need of repentance. 

The question, then, is not “What about that sinner over there?” but, “What about me, this sinner under my own hat?” (Cf., Luke 18:9-14). Jesus said, “Unless you repent, you too will perish”

Repentance, In the New Testament, is metanoeo, “to change one’s mind.” The word in the Old Testament is shuv, “to turn around.” It occurs in the Song of Songs to describe the Shulamite’s dance as she twirls around: shuvi, shuvi—"turn around, turn around”( Song 6:13).

In both testaments the word repentance means something like changing one’s mind about the direction you’re going, turning around and going in another direction. As some wag has suggested, repentance is a shuv in the right direction.

Repentance does not require tears, or feelings of sorrow and remorse. It is the simple recognition that we have been going the wrong direction our entire lives and for our own salvation we must turn around and follow another.

And here’s the Good News: When we turn around we find, to our everlasting surprise and joy, that Jesus has been standing there all along, waiting to forgive and receive us with open arms. “He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). 

David Roper

4.20.20