In Times of Fear, ‘Be of Good Cheer'

Wow, who saw this coming? Two months ago, my biggest concern was the Red Sox’ lack of starting pitching. It was looking like a long, painful season at Fenway.

Now, it’s looking like a long, painful season on Earth. The coronavirus pandemic is killing people in bunches, supplies are running low, and the world economy is deflating like a punctured beach ball. Fear and anxiety are at record levels, at least for this current generation. About eight decades ago, a previous generation had to deal with something even more destructive, known as World War II.

Many people are referring to the coronavirus emergency as World War III. But at least with a real war you can DO something, such as join the Marines, or go to a factory and build tanks, or organize scrap metal drives in your neighborhood, like Jimmy Stewart did in the movie “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

Now, the only thing we can DO is hide behind closed doors, wash our hands, avoid touching our faces, and wait to get sick. The inactivity is making us even more anxious and fearful.

More than ever, we now need to turn to the words of Our Savior. On the night Jesus was betrayed, right after the Last Supper, He gave a series of important teachings to his disciples. At the end of theses teachings, Jesus offered the most important three-part declaration in the entire Bible. He said, “In this world you will have tribulation.” In reply to this, most of us will say something like, “Yeah, you got that right, Lord. Life is hard, and this world is filled with pain and suffering.” Well, that’s what we might have replied two months ago. Now, with this world-wide health crisis, we say, “Ahhhhhh! We’re doooomed!!”

Then Jesus offered the second part of His declaration: “But be of good cheer.” Whoa, wait a minute. That makes no sense. Jesus first gets it exactly right, describing our situation in life as tribulation. But then He tells us to “be of good cheer”? Does Jesus really want us to look around at all the tragedy in the world and just laugh at it? Isn’t that the behavior of a psychotic person?

Yes, it makes no sense until Jesus offered the third and final section of His declaration. He said, “For I have overcome the world.”

You see, that’s the key. Jesus has overcome the world, including the aspects of this world that are the most frightening: suffering and death.

For many of us, way too young to know anything about World War II except what we see on History Channel documentaries, this coronavirus pandemic is our first ever experience of a genuine tribulation. That’s right, your favorite baseball team’s lack of starting pitching is NOT, in fact, a real crisis.

When you boil it down, the things that cause us the most anxiety and fear are the things mankind has struggled with since Adam and Eve: suffering and death.

Those are the things that Jesus conquered. When He died on the cross and then rose from the dead three days later, He defeated death once and for all. And the best part is, He promised that if we put our faith in Him and follow His teachings, we too can defeat death and live forever in Heaven.

In these frightening times, when people are genuinely terrified for the first time in their lives, we need to cling to Jesus’ awesome three-part declaration. Yes, this world has tribulation; always has, always will. Despite this, we must be of good cheer. How? By knowing that Jesus has overcome the world. In the end, it will all work out. Jesus is stronger than death, and He promised that He would never leave us nor forsake us.

Many, many decades from now, when we’re in Heaven, we can hang out with folks who lived during the 1940s and share war stories. But when an Army veteran says, “I fought in the Battle of the Bulge,” it may not sound so impressive when we reply, “Oh yeah, well I washed my hands every 20 minutes!”