They will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover. Mark 16:18
“Some people are of the firm opinion that one need not and should not run away from a deadly plague. Rather, since death is God’s punishment, which he sends upon us for our sins, we must submit to God and with a true and firm faith patiently await our punishment. They look upon running away as an outright wrong and as lack of belief in God. Others take the position that one may properly flee, particularly if one holds no public office.
I cannot censure the former for their excellent decision. They uphold a good cause, namely, a strong faith in God, and deserve commendation because they desire every Christian to hold to a strong, firm faith. It takes more than a milk faith to await a death before which most of the saints themselves have been and still are in dread. Who would not acclaim these earnest people to whom death is a little thing? They willingly accept God’s chastisement, doing so without tempting God, as we shall hear later on.
Since it is generally true of Christians that few are strong and many are weak, one simply cannot place the same burden upon everyone. A person who has a strong faith can drink poison and suffer no harm, Mark 16 [:18], while one who has a weak faith would thereby drink to his death. Peter could walk upon the water because he was strong in faith. When he began to doubt and his faith weakened, he sank and almost drowned. When a strong man travels with a weak man, he must restrain himself so as not to walk at a speed proportionate to his strength lest he set a killing pace for his weak companion.”
Martin Luther (1483-1546) in “Whether One May Flee From A Deadly Plague” from Martin Luther, Luther’s Works, Vol. 43: Devotional Writings II, ed. Jaroslav Jan Pelikan, Hilton C. Oswald, and Helmut T. Lehmann, vol. 43 (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1999), 119–138.
Luther astutely notes that generosity during a plague is not expecting everyone else to respond the same way you believe God is leading you to respond. God has raised up the strong to carry huge loads. If you are among the strong, carry the cross God has asked you to carry with deep faith.
And, if you are strong, don’t expect others to keep up with you or you will kill them. So, what’s the lesson for us all? Serve proportionately. Do what you can. For my wife, it might mean encouraging stuck-at-home moms with children who are flustered with the task of doing school at home.
For me, it might be responding to a flood of emails from confused nonprofit workers around the world. With God’s help, let’s make ourselves available to serve God proportionate to the strength that He has given us, and respond to this plague in a way that fits each of us and glorifies God.