Why The Deaths Caused By Coronavirus Don’t Seem To Make Sense
By Joel Settecase
I just read the news about T. J. Mendez, the “perfectly healthy” father of six children who died of Coronavirus in Texas. T. J. was a beloved Sunday School teacher who, according to his bereaved wife Angela, kept to a clean and conscientious lifestyle. And now he has passed on from this life. Why?
Why did T. J. Mendez die, and why did the 101-year-old “Mr. P” from Italy survive? We can thank God that Mr. P. survived (it was his second pandemic—he was born during the Spanish Flu outbreak of the early 20th Century!), but how should we feel about the tragic passing of T. J. Mendez? It seems so arbitrary, doesn’t it? It doesn’t seem to make sense.
What Does Jesus Have To Say About “Senseless” Death?
Luke 13 records a scene in which Jesus was preaching to a crowd of thousands (remember those, from before these days of social distancing?), and a few of the news junkies of those days came and, “reported to him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.” Whatever the details of that event were, it seems like there had been some kind of horrifying abuse of governmental power against some civilians.
The implication of their question was, maybe those Galileans were bigger sinners than “the rest of us.” Perhaps, you could say, they had it coming? You can see the desire to make sense of the tragedy. This is a universal human impulse, which we certainly feel even today, when confronted by the deaths of those who just don’t seem to deserve it. Full disclosure: when I read the story of T. J. Mendez’s death from COVID-19, I caught myself wondering whether perhaps he had some hidden sins that warranted him catching the disease. That’s not a train of thought I’m proud of, to be sure, and I fully repudiate it.
My regrettable thought, however, does convey the human reflex of wanting to make sense of the seeming amorality of who lives and who dies in times like these. It really does seem so arbitrary, and we want it to make sense. Why are good men like T. J. Mendez cut off in the prime of life, while unrighteous exploiters often get to live long, satisfied lives (the late pornographer Hugh Hefner, who lived to the ripe old age of 91, comes to mind)?
The deaths caused by Coronavirus don’t seem to make sense, because we are moral creatures. We don’t believe “good” people deserve to die.
These questions are as old as the Bible itself (see the perplexity of Asaph in Psalm 73:3-16, as he laments the outrageous success of the wicket and the suffering and death of the righteous). We are confused because we are by nature moral beings, created in God’s image (Ge 1:27). We want good people to be rewarded. So when something like COVID-19 cuts an indiscriminate swath across the globe, ending the lives of the pious and pagans alike, we find ourselves right there with the inquirers of Luke 13, asking God, “What should we make of this?”
And so the Lord’s answer is amazingly insightful. He doesn’t waste any breath on virtue signalling to the crowd about how he stands against the injustice of Pontius Pilate (though certainly it was unjust, and an action for which Pilate will have to give an account before Christ Himself some day, according to Ro 14:12. Interestingly, the fact that Jesus didn’t openly condemn Pilate makes it all the more jarring that Pilate was later to be responsible for Christ’s death—there was no personal grudge on Pilate’s part, as Jesus hadn’t openly condemned him).
Instead, Jesus cuts to the point:
“Do you think that these Galileans were more sinful than all the other Galileans because they suffered these things? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as well. Or the eighteen that the tower in Siloam fell on and killed—do you think they were more sinful than all the other people who live in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as well” (Lk 13:2b-5).
Christ confronts our moral sensibilities and, in typical fashion, he transcends them. He basically says, “You’re right to think that sinners deserve to be punished. That’s true! But here’s what you’re missing: you yourselves are sinners deserving punishment.” And we know from the whole of Scripture that those who continue on in an unrepentant state will not only die but perish forever in Hell (Mt 10:28; Re 21:8).
Coronavirus: A Wake-Up Call
The Lord Jesus gives a stark wake-up call, and it’s one we must needs pay attention to in these days of COVID-19 panic and pandemic. In a sense, this is a virus that attacks both the “deserving” (college students who party on over Spring Break, despite warnings to cease and desist) and “undeserving” (Sunday School teachers, loving grandparents, and even children).
In another, very real sense, though, we are all deserving. The wages of sin is still death (Ro 6:23), even after all these years, and sooner or later the Grim Reaper is going to find each one of us. It might take the form of a virus, or a car accident, or we might pass away in our sleep, surrounded by loved ones at a ripe old age. But death is on our tails, and no length of quarantining in our homes can prevent it from catching up to us in the end.
Our Only Hope In Life And Death (And Pandemics)
When we see the universal scope of sin, we realize that there are no truly righteous people at all (Ro 3:10). There is no one who deserves eternal life. Seen in that light, the deaths we read about are still tragic (death is an enemy, according to Scripture), but they do make sense. Sin merits death. And we are all infected with sin.
The Bible does not soften the blow when it comes to diagnosing our true disease (sin) and its fatal symptom (death). But it does offer a cure. Look again at the words of Jesus: “No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as well” (Lk 13:3, emphasis added).
Repentance, in a biblical sense, is the turning away, in one’s heart and mind, from previously-cherished sin, and turning instead to Christ Himself. It is coming to God with empty hands and saying something like, “I see now that I am no better off than any of the folks I see suffering around me. I am no less deserving of death. My fearful selfishness, my prideful self-promotion, my lustful coveting, these have all placed me on the path to Hell, and that’s not a destiny I want. Instead, I want life—real, everlasting life—and I believe it can only come from Jesus. I believe He died for my sins, and that He came back to life, just as You planned. I believe He is Lord today—even over our seemingly-chaotic situation today—and I want to live for Him instead of myself. I receive Jesus into my life as my Savior and my Sovereign Lord.”
According to the Bible, that recognition, which the Apostle Paul called the “good confession” (1 Tm 6:12-13) is the key to eternal life and hope that sustains you, whether you face life or death (or in times like these, both at once). When you repent and trust in Jesus, God will forgive you and give you eternal life (Jn 3:16).
That doesn’t mean you won’t catch a virus. It does mean that, whether you live or die, you may have the certain and solid expectation that death is not the end. Rather, death becomes the transition point into a level of glorious existence in God’s presence greater than any of us earthbound creatures can possibly imagine.
The future destination of every repentant follower of Jesus Christ is a new Heaven and Earth that will be free from the fear and waste of disease, free from tragic headlines about Sunday School teachers dying too young, and free from the presence of our own sin.
I am grateful that God chose to look at me, a sinner deserving of a fate far worse than COVID-19, and said, “Joel believes in my Son; even if he dies, yet shall he live (Jn 11:25).” I pray that everyone who reads this would discover that same priceless gift through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.