We Americans are selfish. We’re selfish in our rugged individualism. Don’t need no one, don’t want to be beholden to anyone, don’t wanna take care of no one. Even American evangelicalism with its emphasis on one’s personal relationship with Christ is an extension of the American idol of individualism.
We see this same idolatry of the individual in how people are responding to vaccinations and new mask mandates. “Don’t take away my freedom!” they cry. Or, “My body, my choice!” Conspiracy theories abound about the supposed lack of safety in the vaccine or crazy ideas of Bill Gates planting nanochips in people through the vaccine. (Do you really think Gates doesn’t have anything better to do?) What’s the point of getting the vaccine, they argue, if you can still catch the virus? Or, if masks worked, there wouldn’t still be people getting sick. Thing is, masks are like parachutes; they’re not worth much if you leave them in the bag.
This is so disparate from how the Bible tells us Christians are supposed to live. (I’m not being exclusive toward nontheists, but they know to get vaccinated and to wear masks, so it’d be like preaching to the choir.) While we are certainly free from death through the death and resurrection of Jesus, and we have freedom in Christ, that freedom is very different from the way we understand freedom here in America. Paul writes in Colossians 3:12, “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.” Compassion… Kindness… Humility… These are not “me first” character traits. These are “others first” traits. We are to wrap ourselves up in these traits, allowing them to cover us completely, just like our clothes do.
In I Corinthians 8, the apostle Paul is talking about food sacrificed to idols. A little background information… Corinth was at the crossroads of the western trading world. A busy port city, it had a very religiously diverse population, but being that it was in Greece, the Greek deities were a significant part of that. Worshipers of these various gods and goddesses would offer meat as part of their sacrifices then eat it there in the temple. The Christian sect of Judaism (as it was known in the first century) was brand new to Corinth and it wasn’t uncommon for a convert to Christ to have dinner with his Poseidon-worshiping buddy. Paul cautions this convert to be careful, though. If the new believer sees him eating this meat sacrificed to Poseidon, then that believer may think it is okay to cross over on the faith practices.
Paul warns against causing this weaker brother to stumble in his faith. It was legal under the law for Yahweh worshipers to dine with Poseidon worshipers. It was permissible under this new church’s mandates for that table fellowship to happen, too. In other words, by all authorities, both civil and religious, Christians had the freedom and the right to eat meat sacrificed to the Greek gods. BUT… They were called to give up that personal freedom and that right in order to exercise their freedom in Christ and their obligation to protect the faith walk of their younger brother in Christ.
Though Paul is speaking of denying ourselves in order to protect the spiritual walk of one who’s spiritually weaker, we can certainly take that same message and apply it to how we Christ followers should act in regards to our brothers and sisters in community who might be physically weaker. What would you be willing to give up in order to protect someone else who may not be able to protect their self? Jesus says in John we’re supposed to sacrifice our very lives for others, and yet many folks won’t get a little shot or don a mask for the wellbeing of others. Paul writes later in that chapter, “If what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall” (I Cor. 8:13, NIV).
Paul is willing to give up eating meat in order to prevent a sibling in the faith from stumbling in their faith walk. (Bible historians believe that most meat available for consumption had been sacrificed to a deity.) What are you willing to give up in order to prevent a weaker member of your community, a person also created in the image of God, from falling ill and possibly dying? Can you give up your pride, your rugged individualism, your idea of your “rights” and “freedoms”? Can you take a moment to think about all the people your decision impacts? What if it’s your unvaccinated child who gets sick and dies in the hospital because you refuse to wear a mask out in public? What if you inadvertently pass the virus to another adult who unknowingly infects their immunocompromised child, and that child ends up on a ventilator? What if all these hospital beds are full of Covid patients when your mom has a stroke and has to be transported 200 miles away to the next nearest hospital with available space?
So many people are willing to sacrifice health to the idols of civil freedoms and individualism. The Christ way, though, cares neither for civil freedoms or your individualism. The Jesus way says, “Be free in me and love one another as I have loved you.” The Jesus way emphasizes community and tending to that community. Again, it goes back to that “love one another.” Do you think the Good Samaritan was overjoyed about delaying his journey and making the financial sacrifice to tend to the beaten man? No, but he did it. He did it because he knew that the way of compassion is the right way. Getting a shot and donning a mask demonstrate the compassion of Jesus. It shows love. It shows that you worship God above all else.
I entreat you to make the compassionate choice. It has never been about you anymore than it’s been about me. My twelve-year-old, half-vaxxed little girl who I adore is my reason for masking. Traveling out of state with my fully vaxxed teen is why my clothes drying rack is currently wearing about fifteen masks–and that twelve-year-old is why we will suck up wearing masks in nearly 100 degree weather. It’s about keeping others safe. Always.
Who can you protect from illness, hospitalization, and possible death this week?
