Yesterday, I wrote about social distancing as a way to “flatten the curve” of the coronavirus as recommended by people way smarter and better informed than I. Today, I want to balance that with centuries-old guidance from Martin Luther, writing during a plague in Europe. My friend Navigator Randy Raysbrook posted Luther’s counsel:
I shall ask God mercifully to protect us. Then I shall fumigate, help purify the air, administer medicine and take it. I shall avoid places and persons where my presence is not needed in order not to become contaminated and thus perchance inflict and pollute others and so cause their death as a result of my negligence. If God should wish to take me, he will surely find me and I have done what he has expected of me and so I am not responsible for either my own death or the death of others. If my neighbor needs me, however, I shall not avoid place or person but will go freely as stated above. See, this is such a God-fearing faith because it is neither brash nor foolhardy and does not tempt God.
-Luther’s Works, Volume 43, p. 132, “Whether One May Flee From a Deadly Plague”
Marvin Olasky writing in his excellent essay Love without Foolhardiness summarizes Luther’s counsel as:
- Love your neighbor
- Don’t be stupid
Relationships are important, and we need to keep them up, maybe by phone? How quaint! Also, when we do cut travel and activities, we might be slowing life down a bit–not a bad thing. I know I’ll have more time by not watching 12 hours of basketball four days/week for the next couple of weeks!
And the second is like it: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22.39, NKJV)
You shall open your hand wide to your brother, to your poor and your needy, in your land. (Deuteronomy 15.11, NKJV)
Good word!