Facing the Wrong Enemy

“You prepare a table for me in the presence of my enemies.”
(Psalm 23:5)

Yesterday, as I was preparing to post my morning devotional, it dawned on me that I’d been looking at the wrong enemy. Admittedly, COVID-19 is the main focus of almost every news story, and it has altered our lives in some unprecedented ways. And yet, I cannot help but feel that in all the hype, we’ve become distracted by a secondary problem. Like the crowds that lined the road into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, we’ve been crying, “Hosanna – Save Us,” but we’ve been looking to our shepherd to save us from the wrong enemy.

Those crowds were focused on Rome – a foreign scourge that had entered their land uninvited and took over. That enemy dictated how they could live and often took their lives indiscriminately. Sound familiar? And yet, we now know that the crowds were focused on the wrong foe, that Jesus hadn’t come to throw off the yoke of Rome. That’s why their cries of “Hosanna” quickly turned to shouts of “Crucify him!”

In the same way, we’re hyper-focused on COVID-19 as if it’s the greatest enemy humanity faces, but it isn’t – not by a long-shot. Sure, it’s an unwelcome intruder that is ravaging our land and stealing both our lives and our sense of security. And yet, it isn’t even the worst virus that currently plagues our world. There is a far worse one that infects every person alive, and has caused devastation throughout history. I’m talking about sin.

From the day Adam and Eve consumed a forbidden piece of fruit, it has corrupted humanity and exacted a terrible toll. It has undermined relationships between spouses, siblings, neighbors and nations. It even sent us into hiding from our Creator. Sadly, sin is remarkably contagious and resilient – it has passed from one generation to the next, and today it infects every living person on this planet. But the worst part is the mortality rate – unlike COVID-19, which kills about one out of every hundred people who are infected by it, sin kills 100% of the people who contract it. And I’m not just talking about physical death, but spiritual death as well. It actually attacks our souls first, severing our ability to commune with our creator long before it claims our lives.

It was this ancient enemy that Jesus rode a donkey into Jerusalem to conquer. This was the pandemic from which he came to save us. Because he understood that a contagion as prevalent and deadly as sin demands a cure. And he was the only person who could supply it. 

We know how the story goes, and the exceedingly high personal cost Jesus paid in order to provide us with the cure to this contagion. Since the penalty of sin is death, he paid the price himself – willingly taking our sins upon himself and dying in our place so that we could live. This is what we celebrate every Good Friday.

But what does this have to do with the Shepherd’s Psalm? What does this have to do with our shepherd setting a table for us in the presence of our enemies?

On the night before he was crucified, Jesus sat at a table with his disciples and shared a meal with them. During that meal, he took a piece of bread and used it as metaphor for his body. And he took a cup and used it as a symbol for his blood. His point to those gathered disciples, and to us, is that he was about to do exactly what those crowds lining the road into Jerusalem had been begging for on Palm Sunday – he was going to save us from the worst enemy mankind has ever encountered. And in doing so, he was setting a table for us in the presence of our mortal enemy.

The cross sounds utterly foolish to those who are still suffering from the spiritual blindness that sin causes in those who are dying. But for those of us who have tasted and seen God’s mercy and grace, it is an enduring symbol of our Shepherd’s incredible love for us. He loved us so much, he died in our place so that we could live with Him. Because let’s not forget, the tomb is empty and our hope lives.

So while we sit in our homes, surrounded by a virus that has infiltrated our lives and dictates where we can go and what we can do, remember that it pales in comparison to the enemy Jesus has already overcome. And no matter what the coming weeks and months hold, we know that this is just a blink of an eye in the grand scope of eternity. This crisis will pass, and there will be another to take its place. Jesus was right when he warned us that in this world, we will have trouble. But because of what he did for us on the cross, the enemies of this life will never get the last word – He will.

I leave you this morning with a song that has been echoing in my mind as I wrote this. It is an anthem of trust from the sheep to their shepherd, and I invite you to sing along with me. Click here to listen.