Coronavirus: The Power of Being One this Easter

by Laura Bennett / April 9, 2020

Photo by Nicole Baster on Unsplash

No matter what part of the world you’re in right now, your country and your people are having a response to the coronavirus pandemic. Maybe it’s to lock-down your borders and keep residents inside, or to let no foreigner in as you protect yourselves from infection and all that would ensue.

Wherever you and the country you live sit on the spectrum, there is a global pandemic unifying the world’s attention, and we are all part of the story. For the first time in many of our lifetimes, this isn’t just a news event we all know about – like 9/11 or the GFC, but one we’re all involved in, and fundamentally changed by as it lingers on our doorstep.

Never in my lifetime has there been one thing that changes everyone’s default way of living, and not just some peoples. Never has there been something that forces us all to go slow – not just the reverent. Something that forces us all to detach from the allure of ‘busy’, and not just the recovering workaholics; Coronavirus has been a great leveler, and also a great revealer (hello celebs hunkering down with home gyms and saunas while the homeless ‘shelter’ under the covering of cardboard).

Those ‘leveling’ attributes made this Bible verse jump out at me:

Isaiah 40:4-5 [NIV], “Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it together. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

Doesn’t it seem to scream of our time? A time where what stood high is being made low, and what’s low is finding common ground with the elevated. It tells us that in this leveling the glory of God is, and will be revealed.

REVEAL: “Cause or allow something to be seen. Make something known to humans by divine or supernatural means (this is Google y’all), make previously unknown or secret information known to others.”

“…And all people will see it together (40:5).”

‘We’re all in this together’ has become a slogan for this crisis. But maybe it’s more significant than we realise. Perhaps it means more than just being shoulder to shoulder as we carry this burden. Perhaps, it means we are equally placed to see God’s glory – His beauty, majesty and goodness – in the midst of this turmoil.

In ways I’ve not seen before, the world are one people. We are all hurting in unique ways, and appreciating our blessings in unique ways, but we are one. And Isaiah says God is ready to meet that ‘oneness’ with His divine goodness. May it be so.

Happy Easter.