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Today we have a special treat from our guest blogger Maria Bulzone.  She has some thoughts about the Corona virus with insights from Shakespeare and the scriptures

In reflection of the Ides of March, I'm reminded of my favorite quote from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar: “Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once.” In the midst of my appreciation for this quote, I can’t help but consider its indirect, but biblical, application to the current situation in New York with the Coronavirus. 

News reports of the virus have been circulating for the past few weeks, but hysteria has reached a culminating, breaking-point in New York as the number of confirmed cases has increased. Stores have been stripped of their produce and paper goods as people prepare for potential quarantine; schools and businesses have been closed down, and the virus is the subject of most conversations. While I’m not here to argue against quarantine preparation or being circumspect about the virus, prudence is a good thing, what’s very telling and interesting to me, is the genuine fear that underlies New York’s anxiety-driven response and the biblical truths it reflects. 

In the context of the play, Caesar utters this very bold line to his wife, Calpurnia, in response to her anxieties about him leaving to go to Capitol on the Ides of March. Although Caesar had been warned a month prior, by the soothsayer, about this fateful day, he pursues on without trepidation. He expounds upon his conviction regarding the difference between cowardice and bravery by adding, “of all the wonders that I yet have heard, it seems to me the most strange that men should fear; seeing that death, a necessary end, will come when it will come.” What’s intriguing here is the paradox that Shakespeare establishes through Caesar’s dialogue. Caesar is a foolish character, in the play. His pride and unwillingness to listen to others’ warnings leads to his downfall; as everyone knows, Caesar dies at Capitol on the Ides of March. Nonetheless, Shakespeare uses Caesar, here, to articulate incredible truth. When Caesar suggests that “cowards die many times before their deaths,” he is addressing their failure to live; by living in fear, by doing all that is possible to prevent or postpone one’s death, one never truly lives. As Caesar suggests, death is inevitable, it “will come when it will come,” and no matter how many times we wash our hands, no matter how many Clorox wipes we use or rolls of toilet paper we buy, death will come. 

Now, I’m not suggesting that the Coronavirus is any type of actual dooms-day. I’d hate to contribute to the hysteria, and from most of the medical information that’s been released, the actual symptoms are fairly mild for a healthy immune system. However, due to the virus’s presence here, New York has been forced to confront the reality of its own mortality, and New York is scared. 

Why is New York scared? After all, death is inevitable. Well…New York is scared because it has reason to be; it’s really afraid of what death and pestilence represents, the judgment of God. In various accounts of the Bible, God sends disease as a warning. He allows sickness to overcome a people, especially Israel in the Old Testament, to remind them of His divinity. From the plagues of Egypt to the healings that Christ performs in the New Testament, God demonstrates His absolute Omnipotence over disease and well-being. A great passage in which God’s perfect wrath and mercy in sickness can be seen is when Miriam is cursed with leprosy in the book of Numbers. Having allied with her brother, Aaron, against Moses, God rebukes Aaron and Miriam’s actions with an illness. 

Numbers 12:10-15 tells us, “When the cloud removed from over the tent, behold, Miriam was leprous, like snow. And Aaron turned toward Miriam, and behold, she was leprous. And Aaron said to Moses, ‘Oh my lord, do not punish us because we have done foolishly and have sinned. Let her not be as one dead, whose flesh is half eaten away when he comes out of his mother’s womb.’ And Moses cried to the Lord, ‘O God, please heal her—please.’ But the Lord said to Moses, ‘If her father had but spit in her face, should she not be shamed seven days? Let her be shut outside the camp seven days, and after that she may be brought in again.’ So Miriam was shut outside the camp seven days, and the people did not set out on the march till Miriam was brought in again.” 

From this account, we know Miriam was healed. Old Testament law required that anyone who was unclean be isolated from the rest of the Israelites. Miriam’s re-admittance back into the camp in verse 15 indicates that God honored Moses’s interceding pleas for Miriam’s healing. 

For years, New York has ignored God’s authority and His ordinances. Like Aaron and Miriam, “we have done foolishly and have sinned.” We have done even more than that. We have extolled the things that God hates and “exchanged every truth for a lie” (Romans 1:25). We have stooped down and bathed our hands in the blood of the innocent. Governor Cuomo is “working tirelessly” to make New York as safe as possible by shutting down various programs and advocating for public safety. He gives off the appearance of a concerned politician who cares about the preservation and sanctity of human life; meanwhile, a little over a year ago, he passionately enacted “The Reproductive ‘Health’ Act.” New York has affronted God with its lawlessness. As a state, we have arrogantly pursued unrighteousness without remorse, and even if this Coronavirus is as harmless as many medical personnel are suggesting it is, God is reminding us who He is. This is why New York is scared. New York is scared because New York, and arguably the rest of America, is guilty! We cannot pray for God’s protection and anticipate His blessing if we ignore His ordinances.

Proverbs 28:1 parallels Caesar’s sentiment about courage and bravery when it tells us that “the wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion.” New York is cowardly, and it’s afraid of sickness and the possibility of death because it fears the judgment that comes hereafter. It cannot feel valiantly about death or approach it with the boldness of a lion, because it is wicked, and as a state, we know that we deserve punishment for our wickedness. However, even in this epiphany, we have hope. We have repentance. 

When Aaron confessed his sin to Moses, Moses pleaded with God to be merciful and save Miriam. He interceded for her. As individuals, we have the Greatest Intercessor. Christ, who died for our sins on the cross and paid the penalty, has promised us forgiveness if we turn from our sin and follow after Him. As a state, we have an opportunity to repent of our wickedness. 

King Solomon, in all his wisdom, remarked in 1 Kings 8:35-40, “‘When heaven is shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against you, if they pray toward this place and acknowledge your name and turn from their sin, when you afflict them, then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people in Israel, when you teach them the good way in which they should walk, and grant rain upon your land, which you have given to your people as an inheritance. If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence or blight or mildew or locust or caterpillar, if their enemy besieges them in the land at their gates, whatever plague, whatever sickness there is, whatever prayer, whatever plea is made by any man or by all your people Israel, each knowing the affliction of his own heart and stretching out his hands toward this house, then hear in heaven your dwelling place and forgive and act and render to each whose heart you know, according to all his ways (for you, you only, know the hearts of all the children of mankind), that they may fear you all the days that they live in the land that you have to our fathers.’” 

Having a land, having a state like New York, is a tremendous gift, but we can’t persist in our evil. If God was willing to forgive and redeem Nineveh through the admonishments of Jonah, there is still hope for us! God disciplines those he loves. (Hebrews 12:6) If New York is scared, it should consider this virus a warning; it should remember how insignificant of a metropolis it really is! The current epicenter of the world is no match for the all-powerful God. 

For the Christian living in New York, we can approach this virus and any possible contagion with the boldness of a lion. We are the “valiant” who will only ever “taste of death but once.” We have nothing to fear about death, because as Paul noted, “to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”  (Philippians 1:21). By all means, we should practice wisdom and be discerning in this situation. Unlike Caesar, we shouldn’t ignore important, practical suggestions by the CDC. We should wash our hands, and we should even quarantine, if necessary. God calls His people to be prudent and examples for the general populace. We shouldn’t go around licking hand-railings and shouting, “my faith will save me!” However, we should not fear. God is faithful, and if we die, we die; we will die with the knowledge that our death has glorified our Father in Heaven and was congruent with His perfect will for our lives. By not being afraid, we will be a testimony to the unsaved around us. For those who are dying every day before their deaths because they are living lives that are temporal and meaningless, we can give justifiable explanation as to why we are living without fear. “Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once.” Let us not be cowardly to evangelize. Let us not die to the fear of telling our brother what he most needs to hear. Let us pursue both life, death, and evangelism with valiance.