Love in the Age of COVID-19
By Jennifer Holloran, Chief Operating Officer
Post date: April 20, 2020
Have you noticed that we’re all developing new habits as we try to engage in social distancing due to COVID-19?
When we go to the grocery store, we avoid one another in the aisles. As we go out for our now-critical family walks in the evening, we swerve off the edges of sidewalks to make sure we have our six feet of space between our family and our neighbors. Even watching a movie with scenes featuring crowds of people feels uncomfortable in light of our current realities.
So, what does that mean for us as we reflect on Mark 12:31, which says: “... Love your neighbor as yourself” (NLT)? How do I love my neighbors when I’m supposed to keep my distance from them? It seems counter-intuitive to the parable of the Good Samaritan where the Samaritan certainly got up close and personal with the injured man.
I would argue that the Good Samaritan provides exactly the right model for how love should guide our behavior during this season. While this season may not lend itself to the same physical demonstration of compassion shown in Luke 10:30-37, the Good Samaritan saw an opportunity to show love to another person made in God’s image, even going across regular social and cultural boundaries.
The COVID-19 crisis brings up two mental obstacles that can prevent us from loving our neighbors as Jesus intended.
One obstacle, self-isolation, can encourage us toward self-centered thinking. We can become absorbed completely in our safety, loss of control and the temporary inconveniences that come with isolation. We should take necessary precautions for the health of ourselves, our families and those around us; but we can also exercise safe behaviors without ignoring the opportunities God puts in our minds or places in our paths, just like the Good Samaritan did.
A second mental obstacle that this crisis brings up is that we can become so overwhelmed by all the ways we could reach out that we end up not reaching out at all. When we take on responsibility for the entire world, we put ourselves in the seat of God and find that we cannot fill his shoes. God doesn’t ask us to do everything, but he does want us to do something.
In the book “Reforming Mercy Ministry: A Practical Guide to Loving Your Neighbor,” professor Ted Rivera offers a reminder about showing compassion for others. When Jesus tells the Good Samaritan parable, Rivera notes: “He’s advocating a responsive life — one that will be inconvenient and potentially expensive.” Like the Good Samaritan, God asks us to stand ready for the opportunities that he puts in front of us.
Questions for Reflection:
In our current reality of COVID-19, where do you find that you tend to lean — toward self-protection or toward feeling overwhelmed by needs?
In your new routines, what “paths” has God given you where there may be an opportunity to show love to someone else?
Who in your life may feel isolated during this time? How could you reach out to them this week?
Dive deeper into what it means to love your neighbor as yourself in our devotional.
Para leer el devocional en español oprima aquí.