Holy Week is always somber, but this one feels different. People across the world are preparing for a tragic week. The Surgeon General, Jerome Adams called it our “Pearl Harbor moment, our 9/11 moment.” Indeed, the death tolls may top both of those events the next two weeks, possibly in multiple single-day totals. It does not seem like an accident, though, that on the week we remember Christ’s death and resurrection, we may be confronted with sickness and death at levels we’ve never experienced before.
Here’s the powerful message of Holy Week: In the midst of sickness and death, don’t lose sight of resurrection. Sunday is coming. He has died, but he will rise.
In an effort to remember the importance of Christ’s death on the cross, sometimes we focus too much of our attention on Good Friday and not enough on Easter Sunday. Resurrection, not death, gets the last word. Our suffering will not get the final word. We too will rise with him.
These latest developments serve as another reminder to fall back on our only sure foundation. In times of prosperity, it’s easy to confuse God’s gifts with his guarantees. There’s a difference between what God has promised us and what we regularly enjoy. In fact, a season of learning the difference between the two might be a gift to our faith - in the way that sometimes pain and suffering can be sources of growth. It’s a wonderful gift to be healthy, to live in a prosperous country, to have the most advanced educational and social infrastructure in history, to have events and entertainment at every turn, and more time and income than most people who have ever lived, but these are not guarantees.
In trying times, it is hard and necessary work to remind ourselves that not a single promise of God’s has failed. He is as faithful to us today as he was in January. We’re not seeing the same kinds of gifts, but we have every single one of his guarantees. Every promise of God is being fulfilled, even in the worst days of this pandemic.
Cole Feix is the founder and president of So We Speak.