The ransom of Jesus

THE EDITOR, Madam:

True Christians worldwide this week may be experiencing one of the greatest clashes in human history, where possibly the most burdensome of plagues ever to hit is occurring on the anniversary of the most important relief granted to man in the ransom of Jesus Christ. It is the very antidote to our sorrows, allowed from a heart of undiluted love.

It is such a love that He recommended, especially pivotal at a time when social distancing could easily decline into social isolation and selfish disengagement.

For while we urgently and rightly conduct tests and hope for a cure, this virus may also be testing our own disposition and feelings towards each other. This memorial of hope, made possible by Jesus’ rescue, may not appear with any striking observation to a secularist whose immediate concern is instant relief such as provided by taking a few aspirin.

This love of God and Christ for us is not instant relief from fleshy impediments so we can proceed on our way (Luke 17:11-19).

Such love is meant to cure us whole, where trying circumstances as the coronavirus could make us visit ourselves in mirrors of honesty and acknowledge needed changes. And as the axis of life is dislodged and families, hopes, industries and economies are thrown out of whack, the real answer to our distress could become easily distorted as we retreat into collective anxiety and hopelessness.

Yet man’s salvation rises from the very crest of woe, as was accomplished with Jesus resolving his peerless love for us upon death itself. Such is the memorial and time in history that meets COVID-19 face to face.

And as our speeding world confronts this collective accident, maybe it’s an awakening that we should pay regards to the genuine cure that was always ours before we came so far: This ransom made by God and Christ.

HOMER SYLVESTER