Our plans were thwarted. Covid 19 had struck again. Our Christmas plans to see my NSW family and Northern Beaches sister and her husband were kaput.
As Covid cases were unveiled like unwanted pimples on prom night, Queensland slammed shut its borders and the tension rose. We were in Newcastle, NSW.
Should we make a mad dash back to Queensland? A run to safety before the hotspot, the place of danger, spread.
I admit it. We felt the stress and worry. We scoured the news sites and plundered the websites. And you know — we weren’t the only ones. I’ve got no doubt that thousands of others searched for the vital information. Was I safe? Was I at risk? And, should I risk seeing friends and family only to be excluded from home and fuming in isolation?
The news broke. Some were so desperate to seek safety, see family or secure a holiday, they defied the police and the border rules.
And then it struck me. Imagine if more was at stake then making it back to home and family? What if an eternal home was at stake? How long and carefully should we search for the way to get to eternal safety?
This assumes, of course, that we think about our eternal security and safety. But, I’m not sure we do think about it much. Not when the Australian Christmas season beckons. But Jesus thought about it a lot. And he spoke about it:
“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. (Matthew 7 verses 13-14)
Stark words. Scary words. But needed words, like the warning of a Covid cluster and a border closure, for Jesus knows there is a path of destruction that terminates in judgement.
But he also knows there is a place of safety. And it’s him. He is the narrow gate. For he will take the disease of sin on himself at the cross so we, humanity, can be saved from sin and judgement. This is why choosing Jesus leads to life.
And, unlike a Queensland or WA border, Jesus invites us to come to him.
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. (Matthew 7 verses 7-8)
Savour these words, ‘Ask and it will be given to you.’ Knock and the door will be opened.’ Not might be, not could be, but will be.
And Jesus makes this offer to all: rich, poor, good, evil, to those inside a covid cluster and to those on the outside. ‘Everyone who asks receives.’ Even a brutal criminal receives this offer (Luke 23).
Jesus offers us safety. A safety that is greater than making it back to your home state. For even in Queensland or Western Australia, death will come by covid or something else. But Jesus offers himself, an open border to life — eternal life — a life beyond the grave. He’s the crossing that leads to true safety.
Surely this Christmas, Jesus’ words and deeds ought to be scoured to find eternal safety? He invites us to find this safety. And then Covid, even if it kills us, will not rob us of our eternal home and safety. For Jesus will bring us home safe.