Fear Not the Reaper

Human existence inevitably leads to bodily death.  This is a patently obvious fact that is made doubly relevant to Christians who recognize that this death can either be a gateway to communion with or separation from God.  As it says in 2 Samuel 14:14, “Like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be recovered, so we must die.  But that is not what God desires; rather, He devises ways so that a banished person does not remain banished from Him.”

Americans’ fear of death surged last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic— leaving many with a sense of despair in the face of a seemingly endless flurry of bad news. Nonetheless, hope came when a promise was made to the world in November of 2020— that the vaccine roll out would be a source of salvation— a way to return the world to a normal life.

For the first time in a long year, Americans began to feel hope that there was light at the end of the tunnel.  Many states began making plans to roll back their restrictions.  Those rollbacks started in states like Texas over a month ago as Governor Greg Abbott declared that his states’ mask mandate and capacity limits were going to expire. Although cases have continued to decline in Texas, health experts across the United States have begun to temper peoples’ enthusiasm with new announcements.

Michigan is reporting that there has been a marked surge in COVID-19 cases among children.  In the words of Dr. Bishara Freij— chief of pediatric infectious disease at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Michigan: “Most of the kids that have been really sick that we’ve taken care of had been previously well children and so when we look at them, there’s no way to predict which child is going to have a bad disease”

More bad news came as scientists hypothesized that the new variant of COVID-19 from South Africa could break through the Pfizer vaccine that was being studied in Israel.  This fear is part of a broader concern that the COVID-19 variants we see across the world may be more dangerous than the original version of the virus.

In light of this disheartening news, Christians should remember two things:

1) that all of humanity must die a bodily death, and

2) that Jesus Christ is the only source of true salvation.

Every day that we are alive on earth is only delaying our inevitable demise.  All of us will one day taste the dregs of death.  This is not a cause for fear— because Christians know that their souls are secured by the salvation offered by Jesus Christ.

Matthew 10:28-29 reminds us— “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.  Rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?  Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care.”

Although death is painful and a cause for sorrow, we should not turn to the vaccine for temporary and uncertain salvation of our mortal bodies without remembering that the only salvation that truly matters is the salvation found in Jesus Christ for our immortal souls.

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.
Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army
Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel